NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 12: Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty attend the Marc Jacobs Fall 2020 runway show Photo Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Marc Jacobs
On Friday, Jennifer Hough, a woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted by Nicki Minaj’s husband Kenneth Petty filed a lawsuit against the couple. The suit filed in New York claims she was pressured to recant the incident that she alleges took place in 1994.
Back in March, an extensive Daily Beast report shed light on an assault case that can be traced back to 1994. In the report, Jennifer Hough an alleged sexual assault victim details how her life has reportedly been uprooted by Nicki Minaj, Kenneth Petty, Minaj’s husband, a registered sex offender, and estranged family members.
The report explicitly details the allegations from 1994 and the life-altering backlash she received after she decided to step forward and share her account of the incident. Intimidation, harassment and more led her to live a life of secrecy and privacy.
Nearly five months later, on Friday, Hough filed a lawsuit in New York stating Minaj and Petty offered her upwards of $500,000 to recant the sexual assault claims. The suit also includes additional claims.
Below we’re sharing all the most important pieces of information worth knowing right now.
Who Is Jennifer Hough, the Alleged Sexual Assault Victim of Kenneth Petty?
Jennifer Hough, the alleged sexual assault victim grew up in South Jamaica, Queens similar to Petty and Minaj. The woman who’d taken in and raised her mother also raised her. According to The Daily Beast, Jennifer, Minaj, and Petty are interconnected. Her brother allegedly shares a cousin with Petty, she also shared her estranged adoptive cousin, Shiran Grayson, lived with Minaj’s friend TT at one point.
The Latest Update on Jennifer Hough Who Has Filed a Lawsuit Against the Couple for Harassment
Nicki Minaj and her husband Kenneth Petty are being sued by Jennifer Hough, the alleged sexual assault victim. Filed on Friday, the lawsuit explicitly accuses Minaj and Petty, a registered sex offender of “attempting to intimidate her into recanting her rape accusation,” reports People. Hough is seeking unspecified damages, additionally, the lawsuit accused the couple of “intentional infliction of emotional distress and alleges sexual assault and battery, referring to the 1994 incident.”
People states Petty and Minaj “directly and indirectly” intimidated and harassed and attempted to bribe Hough. According to the lawsuit the bribery attempts were done in hopes that the alleged victim would recant that Petty raped her.
“As a direct result of the actions of Defendant Minaj and Defendant Petty, Plaintiff has been traumatized her entire life,” the suit read. “Plaintiff has never felt safe since being raped by Defendant.”
What Other Claims Come Up in the Lawsuit?
The Daily Beast‘s expansive report released in March previously noted Jennifer Hough was allegedly offered $20,000 in exchange for signing a statement recanting the rape. The lawsuit filed on Friday states this and also claims Minaj called to speak with her about recanting the story and that she received numerous harassing phone calls and unexpected visits from individuals associated with Minaj and Petty.
Hough also details the story of her sexual assault in the lawsuit. The allegations that previously mentioned Minaj’s publicist potentially being flown to Hough to discuss writing a statement also appear in the suit.
The Details Surrounding The Original Case
Court records obtained by The Blast indicated that Petty and the victim were 16 at the time of the assault, the incident reportedly occurred in September of 1994. According to documents, the victim had been walking to school when Petty walked up behind her, pressing an object to her back and instructed her to “keep walking.” Next, the two eventually arrived at Petty’s residence, he then allegedly forced her upstairs and began to rape her at knifepoint. The victim then struck him with a bottle to escape.
Upon his arrest, Petty denied the rape allegation, per the court documents. Following the assault, Jennifer went to school and immediately reported the incident. A close friend then picked her up from the hospital and gave her a ride home. Once she was back home she told her adoptive mother what happened.
Jennifer added Petty’s parents responded to his arrest by telling her adoptive family that the two were dating. According to Jennifer, the two were not a couple.
Months after Petty’s arrest, his friends reportedly harassed her family so badly that her adoptive aunt brought Jennifer to the courthouse to drop the charges. She did not drop the charges, instead, she moved to Florida while the case proceeded.
In 1995 Petty was convicted of one count of attempted rape in the first degree, assault in the second degree, unlawful imprisonment in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon. He was given an 18 to 54-month prison sentence but served nearly four years before his release in January 1999.
Nicki Minaj’s Public Comments On The Case
Over a year ago, Nicki Minaj announced she was officially married to Kenneth “Zoo” Petty.
The rapper excitedly shared the news with her fans on her popular Apple Music show Queen Radio. The pair had allegedly been dating since 2018. In a previous interview with The Shade Room, she alluded to the fact that she’d been dreaming of her wedding day since she was a child.
By the time Nicki announced her marriage, fans already knew Petty was a registered sex offender. At one point in 2019, she responded to the backlash she’d received for marrying him by declaring her husband had been wrongfully accused of attempted rape at 15. She also stated his victim had written a letter to the judge in 1995 requesting to recant her statement. According to the rapper, when the victim figured out she would go to jail for 90 days she decided to not recant.
In December 2018 after receiving backlash from fans for dating Kenneth Petty, a registered sex offender Nicki Minaj defended him in her Instagram comments. In regards to the rape charges, the rapper wrote, “He was 15, she was 16… in a relationship. But go awf, Internet.”
“When you’re somebody’s wife, you’ve gotta be even more prayed up,” Minaj declared during a 2019 episode of Queen Radio. “Because you’ve gotta cover your husband in prayer.” This was a direct response to criticism that was raised after Nicki announced she married Petty. She also added, “But white is right,” spreading the belief that the victim from the 1994 case was a white woman. But, the victim is a Black woman.
In November that same year following Wendy Williams speaking on Petty’s brushes with the law during her “Hot Topics” segment of an October episode of her show, Minaj issued a response via Queen Radio. “I didn’t know that in our society, you have to be plagued by your past. I didn’t know that people can’t turn over a new leaf. I didn’t know that your viciousness and evilness was this deep-rooted.”
Petty Has Also Faced Other Issues With the Law
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2006. This was a reduction from an original charge, murder in the second degree following a plea bargain. An original complaint surrounding this case alleges Petty was responsible for the shooting death of Lamont Robinson. He went on to serve seven years of his 10-year sentence before being released in 2013. Per People, he was on supervised release for five years.
Petty was also arrested last March for failing to register as a sex offender in California where he currently lives, according to Newsweek. The state later dismissed the case after he pled not guilty. He was also allowed to go after posting a $100,000 bond. He will face a trial in June and was ordered to wear an ankle monitor and abide by a curfew.
Behavior From Estranged Family & Nicki Minaj Has Led Jennifer To Fear for Her Well-Being
Years removed from the original case, Jennifer alleges Petty’s friends and associates begun harassing her and her family again. Fans also have taken to social media and comment sections of blogs to discredit her sexual assault story.
Days after Petty’s 2020 arrest, Jennifer says a man named Barry who she remembers was close to her brother when they were children reached out to her. He mentioned Minaj and Petty when they spoke, but she didn’t find this strange. He also offered to make the case “go away.”
Barry then allegedly shared that Minaj wanted to speak with her. She recalls she didn’t believe this was true. But admits her phone rang and it was the rapper on the line.
At this point, Jennifer says it appeared the Pettys were aiming to nail down a non-disclosure agreement that would mean they would not speak on the case publicly, and neither would she. Jennifer recalls Minaj telling her she wanted her to have her number, but they never spoke again.
Then Jennifer says her estranged brother reached out to her within days of her speaking with Minaj. He told her a man named Jamie from New York called a cousin in North Carolina to allegedly offer $500,000 if Jennifer spoke with a lawyer who represented Petty. She did not call the lawyer.
Amid the above, Barry reportedly wanted Jennifer to pen a letter recanting the rape allegation from 1994. Scared of retaliation, she stalled and expressed worry over being sent back to court. He responded by sending her details on New York’s statute of limitations. He also had her speak with numerous lawyers in attempts to sway her.
After she stopped speaking with the lawyers, she alleges the harassment was ongoing. Barry parked outside of her home and offered her $20,000 in cash if she would sign a letter he’d written recanting the assault. She told him she was not taking the money.
Her brother then called her another time at the start of June asking if she was OK. He mentioned their cousin had called another time and that “they” or the “OGs from the neighborhood” allegedly working for Petty knew where she lived. After this call, she moved from her home in Georgia as she feared for her life.
Since then she’s moved twice to two different homes in Georgia, once in August 2020 and another time in October. Both moves were prompted by contact with individuals she believes were on behalf of Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty. She has since left Georgia.
In November 2020, she came forward for the first time in a YouTube video. In the clip, she expressed the harassment she’d endured and also touched on the facts surrounding the case.
This story was originally published in March 2021, it was updated on August 18, 2021.
