Nicki Minaj Sued by Ex-Assistant Claiming Rapper ‘Open-Handedly Struck’ Him
Nicki Minaj is facing a new lawsuit from a former assistant who claims the “Super Bass” artist smacked him in the face at a concert venue in Detroit last April.
In his 10-page complaint filed Friday in Los Angeles, plaintiff Brandon Jovan Garrett claims he was working for Minaj as a “day to day manager,” fetching her ice cream, when Minaj’s head of security summoned him to the singer’s dressing room at the Little Caesars Arena for a meeting. Garrett alleges Minaj was upset, lamenting her belief that her staff was in disarray. He claims Minaj’s irritation turned into “rage” when one of her employees defended his performance by saying he carried out important duties such as recently picking up a prescription for the world-famous rapper.
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According to the lawsuit, Minaj expressed anger that Garrett had assigned the important task to the other employee. Garrett says he tried in vain to explain that Minaj had asked that the prescription be retrieved “immediately,” and that Garrett had no choice but to delegate the job because he was busy assisting Minaj in her quick-change room, dressing her for her performance.
“Are you fucking crazy having him pick up my prescription? You have lost your fucking mind, and if my husband was here, he would knock out your fucking teeth. You’re a dead man walking. You just fucked up your whole life and you will never be anyone, I’ll make sure of it,” Minaj allegedly screamed at Garrett, according to his lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone.
Garrett claims Minaj then “abruptly stood up, stomped her feet and walked aggressively” toward him while continuing to berate him. He claims she then “open-handedly struck” him on the right side of his face, “causing his head to swing backwards and his hat to fly off of his head.” He alleges Minaj also struck him on his right wrist, knocking documents out of his hand.
Minaj’s lawyer, Judd Burstein, responded to the lawsuit in a statement Friday night. He said Minaj had not yet been served with the complaint, but if it aligned with media reporting, it “is completely false and frivolous” and will be “resolved swiftly” in his client’s favor.
The lawsuit claims the alleged assault took place on April 21, 2024, shortly after a performance. Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 tour had a show at the Little Caesars Arena on April 20. According to reports, someone in the audience hurled an object onstage that nearly hit Minaj while she sang her megahit “Starships” that night. Minaj reportedly responded by launching the object back into the crowd.
In his lawsuit, Garrett claims that after Minaj allegedly attacked him, he fled and locked himself in a bathroom until 4 a.m. He later reported the alleged assault to police and eventually flew back to Los Angeles, where he lives. The new lawsuit names Minaj, born Onika Maraj, and her company Pink Personality as the lead defendants. It includes claims of assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress as it seeks real and punitive damages to be determined at trial.
The new complaint isn’t the first time Minaj has been accused of getting physical with someone while on tour. Last March, the artist and her husband were ordered to pay a $500,000 default judgment to a security guard over an alleged backstage beating at a 2019 concert in Germany.
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