Rapper Nicki Minaj is being sued by Terrence Davidson, her former ‘wig guru,’ who was tasked with coming up with original wig designs for her. Davidson claims that Minaj stole his designs for wigs she now sells online.
Davidson filed the $30 million lawsuit in Atlanta district court, reports TIME. He also alleges that Minaj’s team did not give him any cut from the profits of the wigs and even talking him out of a reality TV deal because it would hurt his relationship with Minaj.
“Her lawyers may complicate it, but we don’t need to get into intellectual-property law,” Davidson’s attorney, Christopher Chestnut, told TIME. “This is basic American morality. Nicki Minaj lied to this man and cheated him.”
The two started working together in January 2010, just as the “Superbass” rapper started to gain fame by appearing on remixes by her Young Money Entertainment colleagues. Her wigs became a part of her persona and helped propel her to fame, along with the hit record Pink Friday. These “fresh, hip, and unique wigs” that Davidson created “significantly contributed to Minaj’s unsurpassed notoriety for her wigs,” his attorneys claim.
Davidson claims that there were plans for a reality show and talk of a wig line with his cooperation, notes CNN. But by 2012, Minaj and her team stopped talking to him about these business ventures and “took active steps to isolate Mr. Davidson and preclude him from the notoriety he deserved for his wig designs,” according to the suit.
Now that Minaj has started selling the wigs online, Davidson thought it was time to act. “I see these wigs online,” he told CNN. “People are basically duplicating what I created for Nicki Minaj.”
The lawsuit can be read here.
image courtesy of Vince Bucci/STARTRAKS PHOTO via ABC