A judge has reportedly ordered Nicki Minaj and her husband Kenneth Petty to pay $500,000 for an alleged backstage assault. According to security guard Thomas Weidenmuller in a lawsuit brought to an LA court, the incident began when a fan climbing on stage with Minaj during a concert held in Frankfurt in 2019. The rapper allegedly blamed a female security guard for letting the fan jump over the front and started to record the guard as she yelled at her.

Weidenmuller then reportedly stepped in, telling Minaj it wasn’t right to have the security staffer’s reputation “ruined” publicly. He claimed that Minaj threw a shoe at him (but missed), and went on to claim that Petty allegedly attacked him from behind and allegedly struck him in the face. The impact allegedly left Weidenmuller “stunned and disoriented” with a broken jaw.

“I felt a blinding pain in my head, neck, face and jaw. I could tell in that instant that something was seriously wrong with my jaw,” he wrote in a court filing. Weidenmuller added he was taken to the hospital and underwent many surgeries, staying at the hospital for ten days. Weidenmuller stated he now has “five plates” in his jaw, which still “has not yet been fully reconstructed”.

Weidenmuller initially asked for $21,000 to cover medical bills and $700,000 for emotional pain, suffering, and his ongoing injury. However, as Minaj and Petty allegedly failed to respond to the lawsuit, the judge awarded Weidenmuller a default judgement amount of over $500,000.

Minaj is currently touring her new album Pink Friday 2.

Photo credit Brandy Hornback