Writer Claims Negative Nicki Minaj Tweet Lead to Rapper Privately Threatening Her and Cost Her A Job
By Ryan Naumann on July 11, 2019 at 8:32 AM EDT
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A female writer claims she tweeted her thoughts about Nicki Minaj, only to be attacked by the rapper in her DM’s and ended up being fired from her job.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, a woman named Tuwanna Thompson is suing Karen Civil, and her popular website, along with the CEO, Christian Emiliano.
Thompson is a freelance writer and content creator who accepted an internship with Civil’s website in 2018.
On June 29, 2018, Thompson says she “tweeted” from her personal Twitter account, “her opinion on rapper Nicki Minaj’s musical direction.” She Tweeted, “You know how dope it would be if Nicki put out mature content?” and “Just reflecting on past relationships, being a boss, hardships, etc. She’s touching 40 soon, a new direction is needed.”
She says this “innocent” tweet went viral and caught the attention of Minaj, Civil and her team.
The suit adds, “Minaj later contacted PLAINTIFF personally via a Twitter direct message (“DM”) and hurled several insults at Plaintiff in the DM. The nature of Minaj’s messages, which were vulgar and tasteless, shocked PLAINTIFF, who in turn shared with her followers on Twitter that had received a DM from Minaj that was “disgusting” and explained that she feared the backlash of publicly posting the DM.”
She says as she processed the events that unfolded with her and Minaj, she then turned her attention to the Live Civil group chat, where they requested she delete the Tweet.
Thompson says she immediately deleted the tweet per their request. Shortly after deleting the Tweet, she claims to have been cut out of the group chat.
She claims they then told her she was no longer employed by Civil or any of her companies. Thompson says they told her Minaj was a client of Civil’s other company. She claims the CEO, Christian Emiliano, then took to Twitter to go on a “public rant” about her. Thompson claims he damaged her reputation with his comments and hurt her ability to get work.
The suit accuses the defendants of defamation and is seeking in excess of $1.5 million in damages.
An attorney for Civil tells The Blast, "We have not been served with any lawsuit so we can not respond to the specifics of this alleged case. However, my firm was hired to respond to defamation and character assault perpetrated by this young lady many months ago and it seems like her actions have persisted from reading this article. At this time we will reserve our rights to exercise the full extent of every available remedy both financial and/or filing for injunctive relief. We should also remind Tuwanna Thompson that she is still under a comprehensive NDA w/ Karen Civil."
