Nicki Minaj has been in the public eye a lot recently, and not always for good reasons. Ever since her ongoing beef with Cardi B reached new lows in the past few months, critics of the musician have been watching her every move, just waiting for her to slip up somehow. And now she has - big time.
Yesterday, TMZ reported that Minaj had gone public with her new boyfriend, Kenneth Petty, who is a registered sex offender with a number of past offences.
The news of their relationship emerged after the rapper posted a number of pictures of herself with Petty on Instagram, which she captioned with song lyrics from Adele's 'Hello'.
"Nicki Minaj's new boo is a registered sex offender with a disturbing rap sheet that includes convictions for manslaughter and attempted rape," TMZ reported.
Petty has in fact been arrested 12 times over the years and, though not all of his offences are known, it is being reported that he served time for the attempted first-degree rape of a 16-year-old-girl in 1995. Then, in 2002, he was charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a man named Lamont Robinson. He was initially meant to be charged with second degree murder, but cut a deal and only ended up serving seven years for manslaughter.
Minaj later confirmed (and defended!) the sex offence on Instagram in a now-deleted comment which read: "He was 15, she was 16 ... in a relationship. But go awf, internet. y'all can't run my life. Y'all can't even run y'all own life. Thank you boo."
Minaj had to disable the comments on the pictures she uploaded after fans began to criticise her new relationship.
"Nicki Minaj was suspose [sic] to give us a baby with a rich guy but she fool us now she with a sex offender im sad
Another fan pointed out that Minaj has made excuses for other sex offenders in the past: "I hate to say it, but after #NickiMinaj defended her brother (sex offender) and 6ix9ine (sex offender), I can’t honestly say I’m surprised to hear she’s now defending her new boyfriend- another sex offender."
"Wow. She really wants everyone to know just how much she loves r*pists," summed up one person.
Petty's most recent run in with the law occurred earlier this year, when he was busted for driving with a suspended license in September. He was allegedly charged with two infractions and one misdemeanour for operating an unlicensed vehicle, failure to stop at a stop sign, and operating a vehicle while license is suspended or revoked. He is due in court for these offences in January 2019.
Thus far, Minaj is showing no signs of acknowledging the severity of her new beau's crimes, and, in fact, seems to be enjoying the chatter she's causing on the internet. No doubt this will give her critics even more reason to rally against her, and might even be enough to turn some of her fans over to Cardi B's team, too.
At the time of writing, the rapper's Instagram posts with Petty are still on her Instagram page.
