The rapper was traveling from Amsterdam to Manchester, England, for a concert on her “Pink Friday 2 World Tour.”
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| Nicki Minaj in New York City.Dia Dipasupil / FilmMagic |
Nicki Minaj was released from custody on Saturday, hours after being arrested by police in the Netherlands on suspicion of exporting soft drugs, authorities said.
The rapper was fined and allowed to “continue her journey,” according to a translated police post on X just before 4 p.m. ET.
Minaj, 41, was traveling from Amsterdam to Manchester, England, for a concert on her “Pink Friday 2 World Tour” when she was detained. Minaj, whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, was scheduled to perform at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester on Saturday night, but the concert was postponed, Live Nation UK announced.
“Despite Nicki’s best efforts to explore every possible avenue to make tonight’s show happen, today's events have made it impossible,” the company stated. “We are deeply disappointed by the inconvenience this has caused.”
Tickets will remain valid for the rescheduled concert, the company added.
Police did not identify the person arrested by name, but when asked if it was Minaj, a spokesperson confirmed that a “41-year-old American woman” had been detained at Schiphol Airport for possession of soft drugs.
In a social media post early Sunday local time, Minaj mentioned that she arrived at her hotel in Manchester a little more than an hour ago. "After sitting in a jail cell for 5-6 hours, my plane still didn’t take off for another 20 minutes once I boarded," she wrote about the 50-minute flight from Amsterdam.
"Please please please accept my deepest & most sincere apologies," Minaj added. "They sure did know exactly how to hurt me today but this too, shall pass."
The rapper expressed hope to announce the rescheduled date for Saturday's show by Sunday, mentioning potential dates in June and July.
She confirmed that she would still be performing the second show in Manchester on Thursday and the Birmingham concert on Sunday.
"I’ll find a way to not only make up the date with the performance, but I’m going to create an added bonus for everyone that had a ticket for this show. Promise," Minaj assured.
Earlier on Saturday, Minaj shared numerous posts on social media detailing the incident.
In one video posted on X, the rapper is seen being informed that her luggage needs to be searched.
“I’m so sorry to say that,” a man at the airport tells her.
“But isn’t that what you planned on doing from the get-go? Why didn’t you guys search it before it went on the plane?” she responds.
The man explains they did a “random quick check” but now need to open the luggage.
In subsequent posts, Minaj expressed her belief that people were trying to “stop this tour” and were lying to her.
“They took my luggage & when I asked where it was they said it was on the plane. It couldn’t have been, I just pulled up,” she said. “I never gave them my bags. They’re refusing to let me see my own bags.”
In another post, she wrote: “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.”
“This is how they plant things in your luggage,” another post read.
Minaj mentioned in her Sunday social media post that she has video evidence of the encounter and will “have the lawyers & GOD take it from here tho.”
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