Nicki Minaj Shows Up Late to ‘American Idol’ Live Show

L.A. traffic is known for being among the worst in the nation – so when judge Nicki Minaj rolled up 13 minutes late to ‘American Idol’ last night (March 13), we figured that everyone would cut her some slack. But it appears that she may have ruffled a few feathers with her tardiness.

During the episode’s intro, ‘Idol’ host Ryan Seacrest mentioned Minaj’s late arrival in passing, trying to make light of the situation. “I hear she's seven minutes out and there's some congestion on the 405,” he explained. “She should be here momentarily."

Minaj missed the first performance of the night by Curtis Finch Jr., arriving just before Janelle Arthur took the stage. When she eventually showed up, Seacrest jokingly asked, “Which one of you gave Nicki the wrong directions today? Which one of you drained the fuel from her car?” They (mostly) let it drop after that, but not without fellow panelist Mariah Carey shaking her head in evident disappointment over her lateness. No surprises there!

A few ‘Idol’ contestants shared their thoughts on the matter with Us Weekly. "I'm not sure what happened," said Burnell Taylor. "But I feel like we're all going to be late at some point in our lives, you know, I'm not gonna judge her." Singer Amber Holcomb responded with a surprised, "Oh wow! Everybody was looking for her [before the show] Everybody was like where's Nicki, where's Nicki?! I thought she was going to come in on some kind of platform or in some kind of fog or smoke or something. I thought she was going to have a grand entrance!"

According to Finch Jr., there are no hard feelings toward Minaj for missing his performance. “When I got done singing, she was standing right there," he said. "She was like, “Good job,” so I felt like she was still there for me. These judges are amazing and they give passionate feedback after you sing."