Rapper Nicki Minaj was arrested in Amsterdam ahead of her Saturday flight out of the country, and the entire incident was caught on video as Minaj was live on Instagram when the arrest took place.
In a video shared online, Minaj asked, “Where am I going? I have no idea where I’m going” and is told she’s going to the police station. “What address is that?” she replied. After being told the station is five minutes from her location, a police officer instead seemed to assure Minaj she will be able to make her next show.
“You’re talking about my show? What about it?” she asked. After back and forth between officers, Minaj was then heard saying, “They’ll help to try to get me to my show? How?”
“What am I doing? What am I doing?” she asked. “I never gave anyone my—oh! So I’m under arrest?” she said as one of the officers nodded.
“But… under arrest for what?” Minaj continued. She was then asked to stop filming, but continued to film and asked again what she was arrested for.
“Do you know what happened when I came here?” she asked. Two officers again asked Minaj to stop filming and to step into the waiting vehicle. “No, I need a lawyer… because I don’t know where I’m going,” she said. She was then told that the officers would “go as fast as possible” once she stepped into the vehicle.
Throughout the conversation, Minaj’s followers on her live Instagram Story were commenting with suggestions and told her not to get in the car.
TMZ reported that a spokesperson for the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee military police confirmed an American woman was arrested for “soft drugs”—such as marijuana—but declined to tell the outlet if Minaj specifically was arrested and what for.
Minaj also shared the experience on Twitter/X, where she told her followers that Dutch agents found pre-rolls in her luggage and that a member of her security had claimed they were his. Minaj also alleged that airport security was trying to make her late for her flight “so that they can write negative stories.”
Minaj also tweeted that “they” are being paid “big money to try to sabotage my tour b/c soooooo many ppl are mad that it’s this successful & they can’t eat off me. They got caught stealing money from my travel/jets. Got fired. Got mad. Etc.” It is unclear who was fired from the tour.
She later added, “This is Amsterdam, btw, where weed is legal” in a follow-up tweet. Marijuana is legal in the Netherlands but is not legal in the United Kingdom, where Minaj’s next show is scheduled.
In another tweet, Minaj wrote, “I’m still in my car. They took my luggage w/o consent. Lied & said it was on the jet.” It is unclear how Minaj is flying, but while passengers traveling on private jets are allowed to bypass some measures such as fluid limits, airlines still retain the right to inspect any passenger’s luggage and to run it through x-ray machines before the flight departs.
Minanj’s team did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for additional comment.
