CNN
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Rapper Nicki Minaj apologized to fans outside her Manchester hotel in the early hours of Sunday morning after postponing a UK show after she was stopped by Dutch authorities on suspicion of carrying drugs.
“I love you and I’m so sorry for what happened tonight,” Minaj said in the video posted on social media.
Minaj earlier revealed the name of her Manchester hotel in a post on X and invited fans to come and see her. “I’m going to go to the balcony so I can see you if you’re outside and I’ll probably go downstairs. I’ll be there for about an hour. Rlly (really) wants to at least see you,” she said.
Although Minaj was released by police on Saturday night, a concert scheduled to take place in Manchester that night did not go ahead as planned.
In a statement issued by Live Nation and concert venue Co-op Live, organizers said they were “deeply disappointed” by the inconvenience caused.
“Despite Nicki’s best efforts to explore every possible avenue to host tonight’s show, the events of today have made it impossible,” a statement released Saturday night said.
In a video captured on the hip-hop artist’s Instagram Live, which has since spread online through various social media accounts, Minaj can be heard talking to police on her camera phone at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.
In the video, Minaj mentions that “they found the pre-roll,” before she is seen being taken out of the car and urged into a police car. When she asked why she was being put in the van, an officer told her she was “under arrest for possessing drugs,” later adding. Mina responded: “I didn’t have any drugs with me.”
Minaj repeatedly asked for the address of the police station and asked for a lawyer to be present throughout the clip, while police officers asked her to stop filming.
When CNN contacted authorities in Amsterdam under the name of Mina, Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, the Dutch Gendarmerie (Royal Dutch Gendarmerie) said, They arrested a 41-year-old American woman at Schiphol Airport with “soft drugs”.
Late on Saturday, Dutch Royal Marehaus said the woman detained “on suspicion of exporting soft drugs” had been released.
The statement continued: “After consultation with the prosecutor’s office, the suspect received a fine and is now allowed to continue her journey.”
CNN has reached out to Minaj’s rep for comment.
Minaj is currently on her Pink Friday 2 world tour in support of her latest album, which was released late last year. Minaj performs in Amsterdam on Thursday night and will perform in Birmingham, England, on Sunday night.
Another Nicki Minaj concert is scheduled to take place on Thursday, May 30 at Manchester Co-op Live.
CNN’s Caitlin Danaher contributed to this report.
