After the previous ceremony was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Met Gala is set to return on Monday night. Many of your favorite celebrities are expected to appear at the event, but there’s one major star who won’t be making an appearance — Nicki Minaj. Shortly before the event, Minaj told her fans that she would not be going to the Met Gala this year. Her announcement comes amid a legal issue concerning her husband, Kenneth Petty, who is facing possible jail time after failing to register as a sex offender in California.
Fans became aware of Minaj’s Met Gala plans thanks to TikTok. According to one of those very fans, she responded to a video on TikTok that contained a caption about her hairdresser, Arrogant Tae. The individual who posted the video captioned the clip by jokingly writing that Tae “better sleep with one eye open” in case he “messes up Nicki’s hair for the met gala tomorrow.” Minaj responded to let them know that they had nothing to worry about, as she won’t be attending the event. She wrote, alongside a smirking emoji, “Not going tho.” Minaj did attend the previous Met Gala, which took place in May 2019. She also attended four other times in 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
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Minaj did not reveal why she would not be attending this year’s Met Gala. But, as previously mentioned, the event comes as she and her family are dealing with a very serious legal matter. Minaj’s husband recently pled guilty for failing to register as a sex offender in the state of California. PEOPLE reported that while he is registered as a sex offender in New York, he is not registered in California, which is where he currently lives. It was originally discovered in November 2019 that Petty was not registered in California after he was stopped by traffic police.
Petty is facing a maximum of 10 years in prison in association with this charge and a possible lifetime of supervised probation. His sentencing is currently set for Jan. 24. Minaj’s husband was convicted in 1995 of first-degree attempted rape of a 16-year-old girl. He was also 16 years old at the time. Petty served four years in prison and later had to register as a sex offender in New York state.
