Nicki Minaj and her husband Kenneth Petty are taking action after initially blowing off a $20 million lawsuit.
Jennifer Hough, Kenneth Petty’s rape accuser, sued him and Nicki Minaj for harassment and intimidation in August. The couple had been ignoring the lawsuit, but the threat of a default judgment against them seemingly changed their approach.
According to The Daily Beast, Jennifer Hough’s lawyer Tyrone Blackburn recently received an email from attorney Judd Bernstein on behalf of Nicki Minaj. Bernstein asked Blackburn to withdraw a request for a default judgment in the $20 million lawsuit and allow for an extension to respond.
“I said no!” Blackburn told The Daily Beast. “I told him to prepare his opposition to my request for default judgment and explain to the court why his client and her husband believe they’re both above the law.”
Jennifer Hough and her lawyer asked a judge for a default judgment in the case after Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty ignored the lawsuit for months. Hough has accused the couple of trying to get her to recant allegations against Petty, who was convicted of first-degree attempted rape in 1995.
Hough claims Nicki Minaj and Petty started harassing her last year when he failed to register as a sex offender in California. She says associates of the couple have also attempted to bribe her.
In September, Hough spoke out publicly for the first time on The Real. After relocating multiple times out of fear for her safety, Hough decided to file the lawsuit and reveal she was Petty’s rape victim.
“I’m tired of being afraid,” she explained on The Real. “I feel like the actions that were taken in regards to this whole situation have put me in a different type of fear, at my age, now. And it was wrong. And I don’t want to be afraid anymore. So, the only way not to be afraid is to continue to speak up.”