Nicki Minaj is facing a lawsuit from a guy who says the rapper put hands on him after a show in Detroit last April. The legal papers dropped in Los Angeles Superior Court on January 3.
In the suit, Brandon Garrett, who was managing the day-to-day operations for Minaj’s 2024 Pink Friday 2 tour, alleges that things got heated backstage at Little Caesars Arena. He claims that Nicki lost her cool and hit him several times. The lawsuit states that the supposed assault went down on April 21 after Garrett was called to Minaj’s dressing room backstage at the arena. He claims that when he got there, he faced off with Minaj and her former manager, Deb Antney. They were upset because Garrett had sent another tour employee, hospitality manager Luke Montgomery, to grab some prescriptions for Minaj instead of doing it himself.
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“Ms. Antney asked why Mr. Montgomery was picking up prescriptions on behalf of Defendant Maraj,” the complaint states, referring to Minaj by her birth name. “Plaintiff responded that he had Mr. Montgomery pick up a prescription in the past because Defendant Maraj wanted it immediately, but Plaintiff was occupied at the venue with Defendant Maraj in the quick change room during a performance because one of Plaintiff’s job duties was assisting Defendant Maraj with dressing during performances.”
Garrett alleges that Minaj then became “visibly upset” and “angrily screamed” at him, “Are you f—ing crazy having him pick up my prescription? You have lost your f—ing mind and if my husband was here, he would knock out your f—king teeth. You’re a dead man walking. You just f—ed up your whole life and you will never be anyone, I’ll make sure of it.” Minaj then allegedly “started yelling” at Montgomery, asking what day he picked up the prescriptions and “what exact prescriptions they were.” When Montgomery said he did not remember, Minaj allegedly “screamed” at him “to look through his phone until he finds it.”
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The complaint says that when neither Montgomery nor Garrett could track down the info Minaj was looking for, she flipped out and “asked to see Mr. Montgomery’s cell phone to read the last text message between Plaintiff and Mr. Montgomery.” After Montgomery allegedly offered up his cell phone to Minaj to read the messages, Garrett says she approached him and “got very close to his face” while continuing to yell at him.
“At this point, Defendant Maraj open-handedly struck Plaintiff on the right side of his face, causing his head to swing backwards as his hat flew off his head,” the complaint reads. Garrett alleges that at this point, several members of Minaj’s security team “swarmed in close” to them before Minaj allegedly “struck Plaintiff on his right wrist, knocking the documents in Plaintiff’s hand onto the floor.”
Garrett claims that Minaj then told him to bounce out of the room. After he took her advice, he says he dashed to the nearest bathroom and locked himself in there for hours. While he was holed up, he called his fiancée to fill them in on what had just gone down.
“At this point, Plaintiff’s wrist was throbbing and his face was sore, but he stayed in the restroom because he was terrified and feared for his safety,” the complaint continues. In the “early morning hours” of April 22, Garrett says he then received a text message “from a bus mate on the tour” informing him that Antney said Garrett “would not be riding the bus from Detroit to Chicago,” leaving him stranded.
Once he landed back in Chicago, Garrett says he hit up the Chicago Police Department to get a police escort back to his hotel “because he feared for his safety and did not know if his belongings had been removed or tampered with.”
He says that once he got back to his hotel room, he filed a police report with the Chicago PD. He claims he stayed in his room for a couple of days, feeling scared and traumatized by what went down. After that, he flew back to Detroit to file a formal report there as well.
Garrett is hitting Nicki with a lawsuit for intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault, and battery. He’s looking for punitive and exemplary damages, as well as general damages, along with some other forms of relief.
