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After a recent arrest in Amsterdam, Nicki Minaj canceled a show on her Pink Friday 2 world tour. This cancellation followed her earlier postponement of a concert in Manchester, leading fans to speculate about the reasons behind these changes.
The situation began on Saturday, May 25th when Nicki Minaj planned to depart Amsterdam to resume her tour. As she proceeded through the airport, Dutch police intercepted her, informing Minaj of her arrest and escorting her to the station.
During the incident, Nicki Minaj was live-streaming on Instagram. Fans later saved and uploaded her live stream to platforms like X. In the video, she talks with the police, who inform her that they are arresting her for carrying drugs. Minaj argues, stating, “I’m not carrying drugs,” and “I’m not going…I need a lawyer present”.
After the event, Nicki met fans outside her Amsterdam hotel to apologize publicly. Simultaneously, she also posted apologies on her social media accounts. Both the Amsterdam police and Minaj’s press team later revealed that she spent 5-6 hours in a jail cell during the incident. Following her arrest, police charged her with possessing a large quantity of “soft drugs,” specifically multiple marijuana pre-rolls.
In the words of the concert promotor, Mojo, “Due to the events of last week, the Nicki Minaj show on Sunday, June 2nd at Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam, will no longer be taking place…Tickets will be refunded at the point of sale.”
In the wake of her arrest, Minaj has continued to perform in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, and London. She will continue her European leg of the tour before starting her American leg in early fall.
Are Drugs Illegal in Amsterdam?
In America, our lenient marijuana laws can make events like this shocking and confusing. Despite our laws, many other countries differ in their stances, with some having extremely open use of drugs and others criminalizing it to a high degree.
In the Netherlands, where police arrested Minaj, drugs are categorized as either hard or soft. Hard drugs are highly addictive and harmful to the body, while soft drugs are less addictive or may have medicinal uses.
In the Netherlands, hard drugs are entirely illegal. In contrast, Dutch law tolerates soft drugs, although they are not technically legal. This means strict regulations govern their sale and use. Interestingly, people can purchase up to 5g of marijuana from coffee shops and can even grow a few plants of their very own.
As for carrying drugs, their “tolerance” can vary and be hard to track down. Generally, anyone with 5g or less of marijuana is not breaking the law. With that said, having over 5g can be a crime in the Netherlands. For these reasons, combined laws regarding carrying drugs in and out of territories can also be inconsistent at times. These factors led to Nicki Minaj’s arrest in Amsterdam.
It was disappointing to hear that afterwards Miss Minaj played the race card in her reasoning for the arrest. She broke the law and they were just doing their job. The Dutch police officers were actually quite patient and cordial with Miss Minaj, as they usually are. In the end, they’re just doing their jobs without prejudice to anyone.
Why do so many American celebrities think that the rules and laws don’t apply to them and that they’re entitled to a different treatment than others?
The funniest comment came from some Dutch people who said she’s complaining about being held for less time than she made her fans wait for her to start the concert. Speaking of lack of respect….
[…] recent years, we have seen an increasing amount of celebrities having run-ins with the law. From Nicki Minaj’s recent arrest in Amsterdam to prosecutors charging Trump with 34 felonies, we see more legal action against celebrities in the […]