Nicki Minaj claims that she was “not willful” after she was accused of neglecting the harassment lawsuit brought by Jennifer Hough.
Minaj blames her failure to respond to the lawsuit on a misunderstanding. She also slammed Hough’s lawyer, Tyrone Blackburn, for trying to use the lawsuit as a springboard for enhanced national recognition.
“My failure to respond to the complaint was the product of an innocent mistake, and I ask the court to excuse the delay so that I can defend what I believe to be an entirely frivolous case which plaintiff’s counsel has brought against me in an effort to use my name to generate publicity for himself,” Minaj is quoted as saying in the documents obtained by Complex.
Blackburn accuses Minaj and Petty of allegedly using their inner circle to harass Hough and her family through “bribery, intimidation, harassment, and stalking” to get her to recant her sexual assault claims against Petty.
Hough has sued for $20 million and says the celebrity couple has ruined her adult life.
Minaj’s attorney, Judd Bernstein, explained to the judge that on Oct. 12, 2021, her manager did not understand that she had retained Bernstein as her attorney. Minaj says the technicalities regarding Bernstein’s services have since been rectified.
Hough claimed that Petty raped her in an abandoned home in New York in 1994. Petty was convicted of the crime the following year and sentenced to five years in prison.
Petty must now register as a sex offender in whatever state he resides in. When Petty failed to do so when he and Minaj moved to California, he was arrested by Beverly Hills cops in 2020. He pled guilty in court and is now awaiting sentencing later this year.
