Rapper Nicki Minaj cancels show in England after being held at Amsterdam airport

[May 28, 2024]  AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -American rapper Nicki Minaj on Saturday cancelled a show in Manchester, England, after she said she was held by police at Amsterdam Schiphol airport on allegations of possession of soft drugs.

"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 Co-op Live venue in Manchester said in a post on X.

Fans leave the Manchester Co-op Live venue after the Nicki Minaj show was cancelled in Manchester, Britain, May 25, 2024. American rapper Nicki Minaj said on social media on Saturday that she was held at Amsterdam Schiphol airport on allegations of possession of soft drugs. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja

Minaj, 41, was detained hours before the show had been scheduled to start.

Dutch military police confirmed a 41-year-old American woman had been held for possession of soft drugs on Saturday, adding it was prohibited to take such substances out of the Netherlands.

Police did not identify the suspect, but in a later post on social media platform X said the woman had been fined and released around 1945 GMT.

That was 45 minutes after Minaj had been due to begin performing at the Manchester Co-op Live.

The singer had earlier posted a video on X in which a Schiphol employee apparently told her that police wanted to "search all her luggage".

Another video on her social media showed a police officer telling her she was "carrying drugs". In the video Minaj denies that.

"Now they said they found weed & that another group of ppl have to come here to weigh the pre-rolls," she said in a following post.

The former "American Idol" judge played a show in Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome on Thursday and is due to return there for another show on June 2.

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by David Gregorio)

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