Nicki Minaj pulls out of Romanian music festival over safety concerns

Nicki Minaj has pulled out of a festival in Romania hours before she was scheduled to perform because of planned protests in the area causing “safety concerns”, the day after she played at Malahide Castle in Dublin.

The US rapper, 41, said as a mother she had to make “sound decisions” so that she made it home to her son and her team returned to their families.

The Anaconda singer was scheduled to perform on the main stage at Saga Festival in Bucharest from 10.55pm to 12.10am local time, but announced on social media that she would not be attending.

Minaj irritated fans in Dublin on Saturday when she arrived on stage an hour and a half late as they waited patiently in the rain.

In 2019, Minaj was scheduled to perform at the 3Arena, but hours before she was due on stage it was announced that equipment trucks could not make it across the Irish Sea due to weather conditions.

She announced that she was pulling out of the festival in Romania on social media, writing: “Out of concern for the wellbeing of our team and myself, I have been advised by my security detail not to travel to Romania’s festival tonight due to safety concerns regarding protests in the area.

“I look forward to seeing you all at another time.

“As a mom, I have to make sure I’m making sound decisions for me to make it home to my son and for my team to make it home to their families.

“To not heed the advice of security at this time is simply not what I think I should be doing.

“I love you and thank you for your understanding and support.”

The Right Thru me singer, who has a son with her husband Kenneth Petty, added that she is “very excited” to return to London for another headline show at Wireless Festival on Friday.

The gates at her 2022 Wireless appearance had to be closed early because of overcrowding issues, leaving some fans disappointed as they were denied entry despite having a ticket.

Minaj later organised a spontaneous meet and greet at Cafe Koko in Camden for the following day to make it up to fans, but that was also plagued with issues.

She initially told her millions of Instagram followers that she would arrive at midday, this was later pushed back to 2pm and when she tried to enter the venue just before 6pm police had to form a wall around her as masses of fans rushed to see her and she was escorted away before entering the venue.

Her latest cancellation also comes after she pulled out of a show in Amsterdam last month following on from her arrest at the city’s airport the weekend previous on suspicion of trying to take “soft drugs” out of the country.

The delay from the arrest forced her to miss her show at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena that was due to take place that evening, with the concert later being rescheduled.

Nicki Minaj has played in Dublin four times, her first performance was in 2012 at the Olympia, Pink Friday: Reloaded was the name of the second concert in the O2 the same year, then again in 2015 at the Three Arena with the Pinkprint tour. Her most recent performance was at Malahide Castle where she brought her Pink Friday 2: World Tour.