The rapper was asked to walk the red carpet at a sports event but she refused to take the escalator down one flight of stairs because her heels were so big.
So waiting photographers had to trek upstairs to get a picture.
An insider revealed: 'There was a little drama. She had time before she was due to go onstage, but she couldn't be persuaded to.
'But the photographers and crews were desperate for her picture, so they all had to come upstairs and hustle backstage to get the shot.'
The source told a US newspaper: 'Nicki was polite and posed up.'
The star eventually showed off her patterned leggings and turquoise stilettos at Saturday night's National Basketball Players Association Gala at the JW Marriott hotel in Los Angeles.
A representative for Your Love singer Minaj, 26, was unavailable for comment.
Mariah Carey is once famously said to have claimed she 'doesn't do stairs'.