Nicki Minaj upstaged Mariah Carey in the diva stakes when she missed the first 13minutes of American Idol after turning up late. Being fashionably late backfired on the 30-year-old rapper after the first live show started without her after she went walkabouts.
The tardy judge blamed infamously bad LA traffic after her hot seat was left empty at the start of the show.
‘We are coming to you live and on time,’ said bemused host Ryan Seacrest as the singing competition kicked off.
‘Say hello to three of your four judges who have made it here on time.’

Seacrest then sat down in Nicki’s seat to explain her absence.
‘So this is where Nicki…I hear she is seven minutes out and there is some congestion on the 405 [Freeway], she should be here momentarily.’
Fellow judge Randy Jackson joked: ‘I heard it was the 101 [Freeway].’
Pressing on with the show Seacrest said: ‘Well the show must go on so let’s get the party started.’
Mariah Carey, who has feuded with her young pretender throughout filming, appeared irritated and shook her head in disbelief as the contestants were introduced.
‘Which one of you gave Nicki the wrong directions today? Which one of you drained the fuel from her car?’ added Ryan.

A smiling Keith Urban, shook his head and simply said ‘I don’t know.’
Minaj finally arrived with a black hooded top over her head and giant sunglasses covering most of her face.
She had earlier tweeted: ‘The contestants better sing some current s*** tonite chile cuz the way my bones iz set up to fall asleep on dey OSS ? Ch’