- Minaj Apologised After Manchester Concert Postponement
By Joel Okwara
United States rapper, Nicki Minaj, detained at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, in the Netherlands, on suspicion of possessing soft drugs, was released later after posting a fine, Dutch media reported at the weekend.
The singer was to perform a show in Britain later Saturday and posted images on social media of her being questioned by officials.
Police confirmed to AFP that they had detained a 41-year-old American woman but declined to confirm that it was Minaj, as per their usual policy.
“We never confirm the identity of a person in custody, but I can confirm we have arrested a 41-year-old woman suspected of trying to export soft drugs to another country,” Robert Kapel, a military police spokesman, told AFP.
Kapel later told AFP the suspect had been released after the payment of a “reasonable” fine, saying, “There’s no reason for us to keep her in custody any longer. We have all the information for our file. Case closed.”
Nicki Minaj’s concert at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester, attended by thousands of fans, was postponed at the last minute after she was arrested hours earlier in the Netherlands.
She later apologised to fans after eventually landing in Manchester late on Saturday night.
She posted on X: “Thank you to everyone who prayed for me today. May God cover you and all that is connected to you. May you be blessed beyond your imagination.
“Please please please accept my deepest & most sincere apologies.”
Earlier, the rapper posted on X that authorities told her they had found cannabis in her luggage, which she said belonged to her security personnel.
A common misconception outside the Netherlands is that marijuana is legal in the country, home to world-famous coffee shops (which actually sell pot) that are a huge draw for cannabis smokers.
The consumption of small quantities of cannabis is technically illegal but police choose not to enforce the law as part of a tolerance policy in place since the 1970s. But tansporting the drugs to another country is illegal.
Minaj was due to perform in Manchester on her Pink Friday 2 World Tour, and the hashtag #FREENICKI was trending on X. The concert originally scheduled for Saturday night was postponed.
Promoter, Live Nation, said the performance would be rescheduled and tickets would be honored.
“Despite Nicki’s best efforts to explore every possible avenue to make tonight’s (May 25) show happen, the events of today have made it impossible,” the promoter said in a statement. “We are deeply disappointed by the inconvenience this has caused.”
Meanwhile, the US singer and rapper was released from custody just before 9pm on Saturday, but had to pay an undisclosed fine for “illegally exporting soft drugs from the Netherlands to another country,” Dutch police told Sky News.
Fans had been let into the indoor venue on Saturday evening despite the star’s detention, Nicki Minaj announced new Manchester Co-op Live concert after the arrest forced her to cancel the show.
The fans blame venue – not her arrest – for last minute gig cancellation. A post on the arena’s X account said shortly after 5.15pm: “Please note that general admission and premium doors for tonight’s Nicki Minaj show will now open at 19:00.”
Minaj was later released from custody just before 9pm but she will have to pay an undisclosed fine for “illegally exporting soft drugs from the Netherlands to another country”, Dutch police told Sky News.
Despite her release, she was not able to make it to Manchester in time, however, in the early hours of Sunday, Minaj posted a live stream on Instagram from central Manchester, showing a crowd of fans in the street below.
The gig will be moved to a later date with a statement from promoters Live Nation saying: “Tickets will remain valid for the rescheduled performance which will be announced ASAP.”
It added: “Despite Nicki’s best efforts to explore every possible avenue to make tonight’s show happen, the events of today have made it impossible. We are deeply disappointed by the inconvenience this has caused.”
In a series of social media posts on X and Instagram, Minaj earlier claimed police said they found drugs in her luggage after items were checked by customs.
She wrote on X that “they said they found weed”. She also claimed “they took my luggage without consent” and “they’re trying to keep me from MANCHESTER”.
The messages also included one where she wrote: “This is Amsterdam btw, where weed is legal.”
The star, whose hit songs include Starships, Super Bass and Anaconda, also filmed what appeared to be an airport official asking her to have her luggage checked.
Minaj later wrote: “It’s a 45 minute to an hour flight. So they’re probably trying to stall for about 4 hours.”
And she added: “Now they said I have to go 5 mins away to make a statement about my security to the police precinct.”
Fans of the singer expressed their dismay at the decision to postpone the concert, with some concert-goers “sobbing.”
“Die-hard Nicki fan” Charu, who had travelled from Liverpool for the show, said the evening was “so ridiculously disappointing”.
“My sister and I had been looking forward to this for months. I’m in the middle of taking my medical school exams and I had been working around this day and was so looking forward to it,” they said.
“People around us said they’d travelled from Ireland and Scotland, paid for hotels for the night in Manchester, which is not cheap.
“So the fact that tickets will be refunded or still valid for another concert doesn’t really put into perspective the time and money that we have all spent on this night.”
They added: “Her team surely would have known that the concert tonight was not going to be possible but to wait until 9.30pm to let us know feels disrespectful of our time and efforts.”
Charu said that concert-goers were “sobbing” after the announcement, and they will not be getting their hopes up about attending the rescheduled concert.
“Whenever she may postpone it to, it isn’t guaranteed that people can take time off work, be able to afford trains, flights, hotels to be able to make it to the show. It’s just very disappointing and upsetting.”
As part of her Pink Friday 2 World Tour, Minaj was due to perform in Birmingham on Sunday, followed by a concert at London’s O2 arena next Tuesday.
Then on Wednesday, she is due to play in Glasgow followed by a gig on Thursday, again at the Co-op Live in Manchester.
