Nicki Minaj asked for a “moment of silence” for her “dear friend” Diana, Princess of Wales while performing in Birmingham, England.
The Trinidadian rapper, 41, brought her Pink Friday 2 tour to the city’s Resorts World Arena yesterday (27 May).
Midway through the show, she spoke to a member of the audience who told her they were from Wales.
Putting on a British accent, Minaj responded: “Wales? It always reminds me of a dear friend of mine... well, she’s not here anymore, but the Princess of Wales.”
After the crowd cheered, Minaj added: “Let’s have a moment of silence for her.”
Fan-shot footage suggests the moment of silence was largely well observed. Diana, the mother of Princes William and Harry, was killed in a car crash in a Paris underpass on 31 August 1997.
Last year Minaj appeared on a remix of fellow rapper Ice Spice’s single “Princess Diana”, a song which includes the lyric: “When we come out, it look like Princess Diana on the street”. The remix was a top five hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Earlier in the day, Minaj had apologized to fans and announced a new date for her show at Manchester’s Co-op Live after her arrest at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam forced the arena to cancel the concert.
She had been scheduled to perform at the arena on Saturday but was forced to cancel the gig after she was arrested in the Netherlands on suspicion of exporting soft drugs.
She was fined €350 (£300) and allowed to continue on her journey.
Minaj announced on social media that she would now perform in Manchester on 3 June and promised to make the show “really special”. She added that Ticketmaster would contact the fans who waited for hours at the canceled show.
The rapper had livestreamed a video to her followers on Saturday showing herself being arrested in the Netherlands for allegedly carrying drugs.
Minaj said she had pre-rolled joints in her bag that belonged to her security guard.
“Keep in mind they took my bags without consent. My security has already advised them those pre-rolls belong to him,” she wrote on Instagram. “Oh yea and the pilot wants me to take my post down.”
Minaj said she was able to leave for Manchester after “sitting in a jail cell for 5-6 hours”, which delayed her enough that she was unable to make it in time for her concert, where 20,000 fans were waiting.
Fans were left fuming as they were let in at 7pm BST and were only informed that the gig was cancelled at 9.40pm, and some directed their anger at the organizers who they felt let them spend money at the venue despite knowing the concert would inevitably be canceled.
Promoter Live Nation released a statement on Saturday, saying: “Despite Nicki’s best efforts to explore every possible avenue to make tonight’s show happen, the events of today have made it impossible.”
“We are deeply disappointed by the inconvenience this has caused.”
