Nicki Minaj Arrived Late To 'American Idol' Live Show; Mariah Carey Shakes Head

Nicki Minaj took her seat on the American Idol judges panel 13 minutes late on Wednesday night, and arrived in a black hoodie and sunglasses while blaming traffic for her tardiness.

Minaj’s big personality was noticeably absent when the first live show of the season kicked off. "Which one of you gave Nicki the wrong directions today?” joked American Idol host Ryan Seacrest. “Which one of you drained the fuel from her car.” While Keith Urban and Randy Jackson joked along, Mariah Carey did not appear to think it was a laughing matter, shaking her head with disapproval etched all over her face.

When Minaj took her seat, she was noticeably less glamorous than usual in a black sweat suit with her hood up over her head. However, once she got down to business, she brought her usual randomness to critiquing the Idol contestants – comparing one female singer’s performance to buttermilk waffles

Unfortunately for Curtis Finch Jr., Minaj arrived after he performed. "Nicki wasn't there! I was like 'Where are you Nicki I need you NOW NOW NOW!' I always look forward to what she's going to say, so I feel that there was a missing piece of the puzzle," he told Us Weekly. Overall, however, the Idol contestants were empathetic where their judge was concerned.

"I'm not sure what happened," Burnell Taylor said. "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."

"I had faith that she would get there," Kree Harrison said. "LA traffic is bad! I'm not gonna say the other word, but it's bad!

Minaj is actually well-known for her tardiness. She delayed production for her first day of American Idol auditions after berating her stylist because she didn’t like her wardrobe choices, according to Yahoo!. She also missed an appearance on The View because she didn’t know it was live, and thought it would be acceptable to be 50 minutes late.

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