Nicki Minaj Late To Live 'American Idol' Taping, Quick-Thinking Seacrest Stalls The Crowd [VIDEO]

Nicki Minaj showed up 13 minutes late to a live taping of "American Idol" on Wednesday night and her tardiness caused quite a stir, both on stage and online.

When Nicki Minaj rushed in late to the reality singing competition show taping last night she apologized for her tardiness saying she was stuck in traffic.

For the first 13 minutes of the show, a cool-headed Ryan Seacrest, the host of "American Idol," did his best to stall the crowd.

Seacrest tried to make light of the situation by joking around with the anxious audience.

"Which one of you gave Nicki the wrong directions today?" said Seacrest. "Which one of you drained the fuel from her car?"

The other judges did their best to save face in front of the cameras as well.

When Nicki Minaj finally arrived, Keith Urban made a subtle joke about her being late. The country singer jokingly smelled the contents of her Coca-Cola cup as if suspecting her of being drunk.

Randy Jackson also did not seem terribly upset in front of the cameras, and was his usual boisterous self.

Mariah Carey, however, was stone-faced and did not appear at all amused by Nicki Minaj's lateness.

Fans were also not impressed by Minaj's lack of punctuality.

While on her way to the taping, Minaj tweeted, "Stuck in traffic *sighs*."

There was then an overwhelming backlash on Twitter. Some tweeters accused the "American Idol" judge of being irresponsible while others called for her removal from the show altogether.

But the 30-year-old rapper has a penchant for being late, as she has proven many times before.

Even her fellow American Idol judges have encountered her tardiness before. Minaj previously delayed production after showing up late to her first day of American Idol auditions. At that time, Nicki blamed her stylist for being late and claimed she hated her wardrobe options.

The following morning, according to the November 2012 E! special Nicki Minaj: My Truth, she also missed a taping of ABC's "The View." Minaj said she was late to the show because she did not realize it was taped live.

"I did think it was a taping," she said to E!. "So we could be 50 minutes late. It's nothing."

Maybe next time the "American Idol" producers should give Nicki Minaj a grace period to ensure she will never be late again.