Rihanna ‘kicked’ Nicki Minaj off tour over fears of being ‘upstaged’

Barbadian singer Rihanna reportedly kicked Nicki Minaj off her tour, as she feared the rapper would “upstage” her performance.

According to Mediatakeout, Rihanna, 22, has grown increasingly worried that her popularity is starting to fade, and after learning that Minaj, 25, was joining the bill, she allegedly became very upset.

“No one (in Rihanna’s camp) is panicking yet, but there is deep concern that Rihanna has peaked, and is on the downside of her music career,” the Daily Telegraph quoted a source as saying.

“Nicki (Minaj) was brought in to sell tickets, but Rihanna did not want her on,” the source said.

Rihanna reportedly used her influence to reduce Minaj’s role on the tour, causing the rap newcomer to be the opening act and be limited in the number of songs she could perform.

“Nicki is not an opening act, and we would never put her out there like that,” a source close to her label Young Money added.

Minaj, who earlier announced that she will not be going on tour with Rihanna and Ke$ha to concentrate on her second album via her Twitter account, has fired her management over the incident.