Nicki Minaj has been sued for assault by a man who claims the rapper physically attacked him following a concert in Detroit last April, according to documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday (Jan. 3).

In the complaint, the plaintiff, Brandon Garrett, claims that while working as a day-to-day manager for Minaj’s 2024 Pink Friday 2 tour, the rapper (real name Onika Maraj) hit him multiple times after flying into a rage backstage at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

According to the lawsuit, the alleged assault occurred on April 21 after Garrett was summoned to Minaj’s dressing room backstage at the arena, where he says he was confronted by Minaj and her former manager Deb Antney about sending another tour employee, identified as hospitality manager Luke Montgomery, to pick up prescriptions for Minaj in his place.

“Ms. Antney asked why Mr. Montgomery was picking up prescriptions on behalf of Defendant Maraj,” the complaint reads, 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 claims 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.”

The complaint states that when neither Montgomery nor Garrett could find the information Minaj had requested, she “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 ordered him out of the room. After complying with her demand, he says he “ran to the nearest restroom and locked himself inside for hours,” during which he says he called his fiance to tell him what had happened. “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.

After arriving back in Chicago on a flight, Garrett says he contacted the Chicago Police Department for 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 he filed a police report with the Chicago PD after arriving back at his room, where he allegedly remained “for the next couple days…because he was fearful and traumatized” over the incident. He says he then flew back to Detroit to file a formal police report there.

Garrett is suing for intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault and battery and is asking for punitive and exemplary damages and general damages, among other relief.

A representative for Minaj did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s request for comment. Antney also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Heidi Klum is ready to make it work — again. As exclusively confirmed by People Friday (Jan. 3), the German supermodel is returning to Project Runway as host, a role she served for 16 seasons before stepping away in 2017.

The news comes more than two decades after Klum helmed the debut season of Project Runway alongside co-host Tim Gunn in 2004, after which the duo led the fashion design competition series side by side for 16 years. The two friends eventually left the program at the same time, announcing their joint departure in 2018 and revealing that they would be joining forces on a new project.

“We’re like husband and wife,” the “Sunglasses at Night” musician told People shortly afterward. “This was our baby. Our baby is 16 years old now. Our baby can walk, and it’s going to walk by itself. And we love our baby — we love our baby and we wish our baby good luck. But now we’re ready to pop out a new one.”

Klum and Gunn shared the screen again in 2020 with Making the Cut, a similar design show that ran for three seasons on Prime Video. Meanwhile, Karlie Kloss and former Project Runway winner Christian Siriano took over hosting duties for the Bravo-originated series.

Now coming to Freeform, Disney+ and Hulu, season 21 of Project Runway will reportedly arrive at some point in 2025 and feature 10 weekly episodes, though the rest of the judges have not yet been announced. In 2023, Elle editor-in-chief Nina Garcia, designer Brandon Maxwell and journalist Elaine Welteroth rounded out the panel for season 20.

Klum won a Primetime Emmy for best reality host in 2013 for her role on Project Runway.

Footage of a 2024 traffic stop between Ice-T — born Tracy Marrow — and a New Jersey police officer surfaced earlier this week.

The contentious exchange reportedly went down in May in Hudson County when bodycam footage showed the “Cop Killer” artist was stopped mere feet away from the Department of Motor Vehicles as he was allegedly on his way to register the car he was driving with the state.

“That’s why I’m trying to get this car set up. Yesterday, I went to the DMV, and they said their system was down. I got seven cars, I’m trying to get them all straight,” an agitated Ice told the cop. “You don’t gotta be that serious about this. I mean you can, but you don’t have to.”

The officer didn’t appreciate Ice-T’s tone and threatened to take his keys and have the vehicle towed.

“Can I park the car and walk to the DMV? You’re not finna to tow my f—ing vehicle,” the Law & Order: SVU star said. “Let me park my car right here. If I’m not under arrest then I’m getting out of the car.”

Ice-T then got out of the car and stood eye-to-eye with the officer. “Give me my paperwork you f—ing a–hole,” he demanded. “Give me my f—ing paperwork. Get this on camera. I’m a foot away from the DMV. You’re an a–hole.”

A sergeant officer was called in to diffuse the situation. Eventually, the officers decided to give Ice-T four tickets related to his license expiration, registration, missing license plates and lack of inspection. However, the car would not be towed and he could keep the keys and get the vehicle’s records updated.

“Next time, just show some respect,” the officer stated. Ice-T fired back before going their separate ways: “I don’t have to.”

Watch the bodycam footage below. Billboard has reached out to the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office and reps for Ice-T.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is destined to always evolve, says chairman John Sykes, but while new categories could arrive in the future, a new name for the establishment is out of the question.

Sykes’ comments were published in a new interview with Vulture, which arrived on Tuesday (Dec. 31), just one day before the 2024 Rock Hall induction ceremony hit streaming services. In the piece, Sykes opens up about the current state of the foundation, and touches on previous calls for a name change, especially given how more pop and hip-hop artists have found themselves inducted in recent years.

“I think it’s because some people don’t understand the meaning of rock and roll,” Sykes explains. “If you go back to the original sound in the ’50s, it was everything. As Missy Elliott calls it, it was a gumbo. It just became known as rock and roll. So when I hear people say, ‘You should just change it to the Music Hall of Fame,’ rock and roll has pretty much covered all of that territory. Rather than throwing the name out, it’s doing a better job of communicating to people where rock and roll came from and what it’s truly about. Once they hear it that way, they understand.

“The best story to convey this was when a great friend of mine, Jay-Z, got inducted a few years ago,” he continued. “I was so excited. But he told me, ‘Rock is dead. It should be called the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame.’ And I said, ‘Well, hip-hop is rock and roll.’ He goes, ‘No, it isn’t.’ And I said, ‘We’ve got to do a better job explaining it. Little Richard, Otis Redding, Chuck Berry — these artists were the cornerstones of rock and roll. If you look at the sounds over the years, those artists ended up influencing hip-hop.’ Jay-Z hemmed and hawed, but he showed up to the ceremony. That made me feel like we had done our job to communicate that rock and roll is open to all.”

These comments echo Sykes’ previous recollection of the discussion, as printed in Jay-Z’s Book of HOV just last month.

“My last words, as I pleaded for Jay to come to Cleveland to accept his award, were that rock n’ roll is not any one sound, rather a gumbo,” he wrote. “To paraphrase the great Berry Gordy, rock n’ roll created the sound of young America. It’s a spirit, and the spirit of hip-hop and rap connected rock n’ roll with an entirely new generation.”

Elsewhere in his new discussion, Sykes also looked towards the future of the Rock Hall and the potential for further new categories. While the annual induction ceremony has always featured Performers, Musical Influences (previously called ‘Early Influences’ before 2023), and the Ahmet Ertegun Award (previously called ‘Non-Performers’ before 2008) as categories, it has expanded further in the past.

In 2000, the Rock Hall introduced the Sidemen category to honor those who are often overlooked in the grand scheme of things, with the category being renamed the Award for Musical Excellence in 2010. Likewise, between 2018 and 2020, roughly half-a-dozen songs were chosen each year as the singles that shaped rock history. As Sykes explains, there’s the potential to dig even deeper into the music industry to honor those who keep the industry turning.

“We’ve discussed ways we could recognize not only artists but those around them who’ve had an impact on the sound of rock and roll. Fans often don’t even know who helped break these artists,” he added. “It could be record-company presidents, it could be lawyers, it could be agents. We also want to look at specific songs that change culture. That could be another category.”

Concluding his interview, Sykes also discussed a number of artists who have been overlooked in previous years, including The B-52s, “Weird Al” Yankovic, the Pixies, and Phil Collins’ solo career.

Labelling Yankovic a “genius” who is yet to make it “close” to the ballot, Sykes expressed confidence that the others may make it in some day.

“There’s been a group of nominees who’ve been passionate about the Pixies,” he said. “The same thing with Warren Zevon, who actually did get on the ballot one year. I’m passionate about Warren, and he’ll get in, too. But the Pixies have had a lot of support.”