Photo Credit: File Photo
Tensions flared when rap superstar Nicki Minaj found herself at odds with authorities at an airport in Amsterdam earlier this week. The incident, which Minaj livestreamed to her millions of social media followers, has caused a furor online.
The 39-year-old music icon was on her way to Manchester, England to perform as part of her highly anticipated Pink Friday 2 World Tour when the confrontation occurred at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on Monday.
In footage shared across her Instagram and Twitter accounts, Minaj can be seen engaged in a heated exchange with multiple uniformed officers who had approached her and her entourage. "They're accusing me of 'drug stuff' - calling it in, you know," she narrates in the frantic video.
The "Super Bass" rapper vehemently denied any wrongdoing during the escalating clash. "They want to get in my bags and everything," she tells the camera indignantly. "I'm getting treated like a f***ing black woman."
At one particularly tense point, Minaj urges her security team "don't let them charge me like that" as police order her to come with them. Eventually, the situation appears to be resolved without further incident and she continues on her way.
In a follow-up tweet, Minaj claimed the officers had targeted both herself and her cousin, who was traveling with her. "They tried to ranch me," she wrote, adding "This is how my queen titans get treated?"
While the official details around the dispute remain murky, representatives for Minaj issued a statement asserting her innocence and slamming the heavy-handed actions of airport security as "illegal and ill-advised."
Meanwhile, Minaj herself brushed off the ordeal in signature defiant fashion, joking on social media, "I'ma performer, not a pardner" - referencing her monster hit "Monster" with Kanye West.
For the boundary-pushing rapper behind smashes like "Starships" and "Anaconda," the Amsterdam incident is just the latest in a long line of controversies she has weathered over the years. This time, her fans online largely had her back, decrying the police's conduct as racially discriminatory and profiling.
Minaj has not indicated whether she intends to file an official complaint. As for the Pink Friday 2 World Tour's next stop, it kicked off in Manchester last night as scheduled amidst heightened security.
