Nicki Minaj Detained by Police in Amsterdam and Livestreams Incident
Originally appeared on E! Online
UPDATE: While Nicki Minaj made it to the U.K. after the incident, she was unable to perform in Manchester on time. However, she did take the stage as scheduled in Birmingham May 26 and is still set to perform in Manchester May 30.
"#Manchester I appreciate you," she tweeted that morning. "Class act. Give me until tmrw for the update on our new date plz. It will be sometime in June or July like I mentioned last night. #GagCityManchester and like I also mentioned, I'll be doing an added surprise bonus for you guys as well."
Nicki added, "To the #Manchester barbz scheduled for the 30th, I look forward to seeing you in just a few more days. Love yo."
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Dutch military police temporarily detained Nicki Minaj in the Netherlands for an alleged drug offense and her fans got a front row look.
The "Anaconda" rapper, who maintained her innocence while livestreaming the May 25 incident at Amsterdam's international airport, was freed hours later and fined.
"A 41-year-old American woman, detained this afternoon at Schiphol Airport on suspicion of exporting soft drugs, has been released," the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee said in a statement in English on their Instagram Stories. "Following consultation with the Public Prosecutor's Office, the suspect received a monetary fine and is now permitted to continue her journey."
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E! News has reached out to Nicki's rep for comment and has not heard back.
Nicki, who is in the midst of her Pink Friday 2 tour, spoke about being detained on Instagram Live, as seen in a video shared by a fan on X, formerly Twitter.
"They just said I have to get in this van and go to the presinct with them," she said, "to make a statement, with no lawyer present, after the pre-rolls they found from bags that they were not authorized to take—that we did not know what they took and we asked for our bags back— and after the security said, oh these pre-rolls are his."
A male security officer then opens the door to the van and escorts Nicki to another vehicle. "You're under arrest," he tells her. "We will bring you to the police station. Because you are carrying drugs."
Nick responded, "I'm not carrying drugs," adding, "I'm not going in there. I need a lawyer present."
The officer told her she will get a lawyer and that she is to travel to the police station located nearby.
Nicki also live-tweeted the incident. "They said they found weed & that another group of ppl have to come here to weigh the pre-rolls," she wrote on X. "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."
She added, "Now they said I have to go 5 mins away to make a statement about my security to the police precinct."
Meanwhile, Nicki said her luggage was subjected to a manual search. "They've been trying to stop me from coming to every show," Nicki said in an Instagram video. "They took my bags before I could see them. Put it on the plane."
Nicki had performed at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam May 23 and was set to fly to the United Kingdom to perform a scheduled concert in Manchester the day of the incident. However, she was unable to make it in time and Live Nation U.K. said in a statement to NBC News that the show has been postponed.
"Despite Nicki's best efforts to explore every possible avenue to make tonight's show happen, the events of today have made it impossible," the group said. "We are deeply disappointed by the inconvenience this has caused."
(E! and NBC News are part of the NBCUniversal family.)
This story was first published May 25 at 5:34 p.m. PT)
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