Nicki Minaj’s former manager has accused the rap superstar of berating and hitting him multiple times while she was on tour in Detroit.
In a lawsuit, Brandon Jovan Garrett alleged that Minaj, 42, whose real name is Onika Maraj, assaulted him April 21 after a concert at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, accuses Minaj of assault, battery and intentional emotional distress. Her company, Pink Personality Inc., is also named as a defendant.
An attorney for Minaj did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Garrett, who described himself as Minaj’s “day to day manger,” says in the suit that on April 21, while he was on his way back from buying ice cream that Minaj requested, her head of security summoned him to her dressing room.
Minaj was in the room with the head of security and five other members of her team and was upset about the way jobs were being handled among her employees, according to the suit.
A member of Minaj’s team then asked Garrett why another employee was picking up her prescriptions. Garrett said he had someone else pick up the prescription because Minaj wanted it immediately and he was busy assisting her in the dressing room during performances, the suit says.
Minaj became enraged by Garrett’s answers and reaction, the lawsuit says. Garrett’s response provoked her “rage” even more, and she began yelling expletives at Garrett, the lawsuit says.
Minaj called Garrett crazy and said that he had lost his mind and that if her husband was there, “he would knock out” his teeth, it says.
“You’re a dead man walking. You just f—– up your whole life and you will never be anyone, I’ll make sure of it,” the lawsuit says Minaj told Garrett.
Minaj physically attacked Garrett, the lawsuit says, “open-handedly” striking him “on the right side of his face, causing his head to swing backwards as his hat flew off his head.” The lawsuit alleges she hit him on his right wrist, causing him to drop documents he was holding, before she kicked him out of the room.
Garrett then locked himself in a bathroom for hours because he feared for his safety, the suit says.
The next morning, Garrett received a text saying he would not be riding the tour bus from Detroit to Chicago, he said in the suit.
Garrett said in the lawsuit that he called Detroit police from the airport and was told he would have to file a police report in person.
Garrett returned to Detroit and filed a police report before he returned home to Los Angeles, according to the lawsuit.
Detroit police confirmed Monday that Garrett filed a report. Police said a warrant request had been sent to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
The prosecutor’s office said in a statement Monday that the warrant was denied because of “insufficient evidence to prove that a crime has been committed.”
The suit alleges that Minaj “abused her position of authority” and “berated, threatened, used profanities, and violently struck” Garrett multiple times. Her actions were done “with intent to cause severe emotional distress” or with conscious disregard to the probability Garrett “would suffer severe emotional distress.”
He is seeking a jury trial.