What We Know About Nicki Minaj No Longer Performing At The VMAs

The following article includes allegations of sexual assault.

Nicki Minaj, aka Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, has pulled out from performing at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 12. This comes as a shock because Minaj wasn't one of the artists who were originally announced to perform at Brooklyn's Barclays Center in New York City, Us Magazine noted.

Chlöe Bailey, Olivia Rodrigo, Justin Bieber, Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes, and Normani are some of the star-studded acts who are confirmed to perform, but the "Barbie Dreams" rapper won't be joining them. Minaj dropped the shocking bombshell on Twitter: "I just pulled out. I'll explain why another day," she mysteriously said. "But I love those guys at MTV. thank you Bruce. I love you so much. Next year we there baby."

There was no follow-up explanation posted on her Twitter, and the Barbz (a.k.a her extremely loyal and devoted fans) are going wild trying to figure out the real reason why the Queen of Rap abdicated her throne on the VMA stage. We might know why she dropped out of the award show last second, and it could mess up her future plans, too.

Nicki Minaj's husband, Kenneth Petty, was convicted in 1995 for attempted rape — first-degree in New York while he and the victim were both minors. Petty served around four years in prison, per NBC News. And because of his crime, he is required by law to register on a local registered sex offender list whenever he moves for public safety measures, per Justice.org. Petty failed to notify authorities when he moved to California to be with Minaj in 2019, and that placed him in legal hot water. He faces either a minimum sentence of five years of supervised release and a $100 court assessment fee, or a maximum 10-year sentence in federal prison, a lifetime of supervised release, and a "$250,000 fine or twice the gross loss resulting from the offense," per Us Magazine.

People are speculating that Minaj's absence from the award show is due to Petty's legal drama. The alleged rape victim, Jennifer Hough, filed a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against Petty and Minaj in August where she accuses them of intimidating her into recanting the accusation, per The New York Times. 

While Minaj didn't make a connection between the news about her husband and her decision to withdraw from the VMAs, a number of fans think the two are related.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit RAINN.org for additional resources.