Not many fans are privy to the fact that Kenneth Petty is a registered sex offender after having been convicted of first-degree attempted rape in 1995, per USA Today. He spent four years in prison. His journey through the legal system didn’t end there, however, as he faced various charges over the years and served seven more years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter in 2006, via People.
Fast forward to 2021: Jennifer Hough, the woman who accused him of rape, sued both him and Nicki Minaj for allegedly “threatening” and “harassing her.” Hough accused the couple of trying to silence and intimidate her, pushing her to backtrack on her allegations, and a slew of other charges, including inflicting emotional distress, harassment, and assault, per documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
Minaj was notably silent even after the lawsuit captured public attention, but in a court filing, she noted that her “failure to respond to the Complaint was the product of an innocent mistake” and claimed that the “entirely frivolous case” filed against her by Hough’s lawyer Tyrone Blackburn was an “effort to use my name to generate publicity for himself,” per Vulture. Months later, the charges against Minaj were dropped, but Petty remained a defendant, Blackburn told People.
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Interestingly, Minaj has come to Petty’s defense when fans brought up the fact that he’s a sex offender. “He was 15, she was 16 … in a relationship,” she wrote on Instagram. “But go awf, Internet. Y’all can’t run my life. Y’all can’t even run y’all own life.”
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
