In Summary
- Rapper Nicki Minaj detained hours before her Manchester show.
- Fans had been let into the Manchester venue in the evening despite the star’s detention.
- The Co-op Live arena in Manchester which is UK’s largest indoor entertainment venue opened its doors to the public earlier this month.
Nicki Minaj’s concert at Co-op Live got postponed after she was arrested at a Netherlands airport hours before.
The rapper was held on suspicion of “possessing soft drugs” while travelling from Amsterdam to Manchester for her Pink Friday 2 Tour show, and appeared to livestream the encounter with security staff.
She was later released but will have to pay a fine that will be determined by the public prosecution service, the Dutch police said.
A statement to the PA news agency from the National Police Corps said a woman, 41, was arrested after allegedly trying to take soft drugs from Schiphol airport to another country.
At about 9pm on Saturday, the Dutch force said it released the suspect “and she can now move on”.
A statement from the arena’s promoter, Live Nation, said: “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.”
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In footage recorded on Instagram Live, Minaj denied that she was carrying any drugs but was told that she needed to go to the police station.
The rapper asked the officer if she was “under arrest”, to which the Dutch police officer replied, “yes”.
In the recording, a man explained to her that she “would get a lawyer at the office” and they would go “as fast as possible”.
Minaj claimed she was told by an airport security worker “to get into this [police] van and go into the precinct with no lawyer present”.
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Dutch military police added it was prohibited to take such substances out of the Netherlands.
The US musician also posted a series of messages on X, where she has more than 28 million followers, including one message in which she wrote “they said they found weed”.
She also wrote “they took my luggage without consent” and “they’re trying to keep me from MANCHESTER”.
Minaj’s show at Co-op Live on Saturday was originally set to have doors open at 6.30pm but this was changed to 7pm before it was announced it would be postponed.
