Nicki Minaj was forced to postpone her concert in Manchester, England, on Saturday after the rapper was arrested at an Amsterdam airport for allegedly carrying marijuana in her luggage.
On Saturday, after a Thursday concert in Amsterdam, Minaj was due to board a flight to the UK for the Manchester concert when she was stopped by airport security, who said on social media they found “pre-roll marijuana” in a search on his luggage the people he was traveling with.
“Please note that my bags were taken without my consent,” she wrote on social media. “My security has already informed them that the pre-rolls belong to him.”
Minaj posted several videos and live-streamed some of her interactions with Amsterdam police, including one where she was arrested and placed in a police vehicle. She warned her fans that her departure to Manchester was delayed because “another group of people have to come here to weigh in training” and that she would be questioned by the police.
This was confirmed by the Dutch military police CNN that an unnamed 41-year-old American woman had been arrested at Schiphol Airport “on suspicion of smuggling soft drugs” and that she had been released. “After consultation with the Public Prosecutor's Office, the suspect was fined and is now allowed to continue her journey,” a spokesman for the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. (Although marijuana is legal in Amsterdam, it is illegal to export it.)
Live Nation later confirmed that due to Minaj's ordeal — during which the rapper said she “sat in a jail cell for 5-6 hours — the Manchester show would be postponed, “Despite Nicki's best efforts to explore every possible avenue to make tonight's show happen, today's events have made it impossible.”
Amidst the arrest, Minaj claimed on social media that there had been frequent attempts in previous cities to “sabotage» her tour.
“They succeeded in their plan to not let me on that stage tonight,” Minaj wrote after the postponement. “Please please accept my deepest and most sincere apologies. They definitely knew exactly how to hurt me today, but this too shall pass.”
She added, “They did this over and over and over and over and over and over and I tried so hard not to talk about it b/c [because] you only deserve to get the good stuff. I hate to involve you in anything that isn't just for entertainment purposes.''
A scheduled date for Saturday's show has yet to be announced, however Minaj will return to Manchester on Thursday for another scheduled gig in the city. Minaj will perform in Birmingham, England on Sunday night.
“Soon we'll have another date for tonight's show and I'll probably be able to share it tmrw. A July option and a June option are currently being discussed,” Minaj wrote.
“I will find a way to not only fill the date with the show, but create an added bonus for everyone who has tkt for this show. Promise.”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/nicki-minaj-postpones-manchester-show-soft-drugs-arrest-amsterdam-1235028074/
