American Idol executives halted filming in Charlotte, North Carolina yesterday after Nicki Minaj allegedly threatened and swore at fellow judge Mariah Carey when they disagreed over a contestant (listen to the fight here). According to TMZ:

It all went down while the two were sitting at the judge’s table with Keith Urban sitting in between them and Randy Jackson sitting on the far end, next to Mariah.

Nicki: Get this shit in self control. Get in control. Get in control.
Randy: Settle down, settle down
Nicki: Don’t lose your head. Don’t lose your head (inaudible). Don’t tell me I’m a gangster.
Nicki: (inaudible) every 5 minutes. So every time you patronize me, I’m-ma take it back, and if you’ve got a fucking problem, handle it.
Nicki: I told them I’m not fuckin’ putting up with her fucking highness over there. Figure it the fuck out. Figure it out.
Nicki: I’m not gonna sit here every fucking minute to have you come down and harass me every minute everyday.

Producers ended the auditions for the day so the two judges could cool down.

Big wigs on the show seem uncharacteristically upset by the blow up. It seems producers are worried about Mariah and Nicki co-existing for the long haul.

Oh, I’m sure the Fox is real worried. They couldn’t have known that pairing two sassy, independent black women together might not work out so well. Come on. I’ve seen enough Springer to know what happens next. Someone gets all her fronts busted out and someone breaks a chair over someone’s head. This is nothing but a cheap publicity stunt dreamed up by Ryan Seacrest in the hopes of keeping American Idol relevant. Nicki wouldn’t recognize musical talent if Elton John came up and sat on her face.

Mariah in a cropped leather jacket like this one from Day Birger et Nikkelson (don’t worry, it doesn’t have the hideous ruffles or pleats) in JFK airport last week:

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