Nicki Minaj apologized on Sunday for postponing her concert in Manchester, England after she was detained in Amsterdam for marijuana possession.
The rapper had invited her fans to come see her at her hotel in Manchester after the incident, writing in a post on X, “I’m going on the balcony so if you’re outside I’ll be able to see you & I may come downstairs. I’ll be out there for about an hour. Rlly (really) wanted to at least get to see you.”
Minaj appeared outside of the hotel in an large neon-pink puffer jacked and greeted a crowd of fans, tellings fans, according to CNN, “I love you and I’m so sorry this happened tonight.”
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Minaj was in custody of Dutch police at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam for hours on Saturday on suspicion of carrying soft drugs, police said, before eventually being released and hit with a fine, NBC News reported.
“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,” Live Nation said in a statement. The concert originally scheduled for Saturday night will be rescheduled.
But before her release, the rapper and singer dramatically livestreamed the whole ordeal on her social media.
Celebrity gossip site The Shade Room and other social media users shared footage from the 41-year-old Grammy-winner’s own Instagram account, where she recorded a Netherlands officer telling her to get into a police vehicle because “you’re carrying drugs.”
The “Super Bass” hitmaker, who is in the middle of her Pink Friday 2 World Tour, denied any wrongdoing.
“I’m not carrying drugs… I’m not going in there. I need a lawyer present. I need a lawyer present now,” Minaj tells the cop in an apparent airport encounter, before asking for the police station address.
The officer tells her the station is five minutes away and references how she’ll get to her “next show” if they resolve the matter “very fast.”
In another clip, the cop tells Minaj to stop filming him.
Minaj also shared footage Saturday morning of herself speaking with a man who appears to be an airline official from inside the police van.
“The police officer told me we have to offload all the luggage and to search everything of your luggage. I’m so sorry to say that,” the official tells her.
“But isn’t that what you planned on doing from the get-go?” Minaj asks. “Why didn’t you guys search it before it went on the plane?”
“They did just a random quick check. But now they want to open it—”
“Why?”
“First of all because you filmed him,” the official adds of the cop. “He doesn’t believe that you don’t have more with you than you say.”
In another recording from the van, Minaj mentions that authorities confiscated “pre-rolls” from “bags that they were not authorized to take.”
“And after the security said, oh, those pre-rolls are his,” Minaj adds. “They’re telling me I have to go to the police precinct.”
Minaj continued to tweet about the episode. “They’ve been trying everything they possibly can to TRY to stop this tour,” she wrote earlier that day.
Minaj even suggested former confidants set her up.
“They’re being paid big money to try to sabotage my tour b/c soooooo many ppl are mad that it’s this successful & they can’t eat off me. They got caught stealing money from my travel/jets. Got fired. Got mad. Etc.,” she posted.
“They try to make me book another jet every time. All b/c I fired mngmnt who I found out for years were adding on 30-50K on my jet & pocketing it. I fired a tour mngr recently who was doing the same thing & mad he got the boot. Their goal is to make me late, & to pocket 40K.”
In another post, she used a tongue-out emoji: “This is Amsterdam btw, where weed is legal.”
The U.S. Department of State’s travel website notes, “Despite common misperceptions, marijuana and hashish are controlled substances in the Netherlands, and although not enforced in defined tourist areas, possession is a crime that can result in a fine.”
“It is illegal to take any controlled substance, such as marijuana, into or out of the Netherlands.”
Minaj continued chronicling the saga throughout Saturday, following up with, “now they said they found weed & that another group of ppl have to come here to weigh the pre-rolls.”
“Keep in mind they took my bags without consent. My security has already advised them those pre-rolls belong to him. Oh yea & the pilot wants me to take my ig post down.”
The controversy spawned a viral hashtag on X: #FreeNicki.
“She’s BEEN telling us the shady sh*t happening with the jet & the people she has fired,” one fan wrote. “I have no doubt somebody set her up. I will be uneasy til the moment we verify her safety. #FREENICKI.”
Another fan account tweeted, “They don’t give a fuck about how this shit can affect a person mentally, physically and emotionally.”
“I’m sending nothing but love & positive energy to the queen. Praying for her safety. #FREENICKI.”
