Nicki Minaj abruptly canceled her Sunday night headline performance at Saga Festival in Bucharest, Romania, due to security concerns related to protests in the city planned for Monday.
“Out of concern for the well-being of our team and myself, I have been advised by my security team not to travel to the festival in Romania tonight,” the Grammy-nominated rapper said Sunday in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
“As a mother, I have to make sure that I make the right decisions so that I can get home to my son and so that my team can get home to their families,” Minaj said. “To not heed the safety advice at this time is just not what I think I should be doing. I love you all and I appreciate your understanding and support.”
Saga Festival followed up on Instagram, posting Minaj’s tweet and writing, “The news has left us all devastated and we know it’s a huge disappointment for all of you, just as it is for us.”
The music festival said full refunds will be given for unscanned tickets and partial refunds for scanned tickets.
To add insult to injury, DJ Hardwell, Friday’s headliner alongside Rita Ora, abruptly stopped his set on Friday due to his frustration with Saga, who he claimed had not paid him and provided him with terrible equipment. In a video posted on X, the Dutch DJ said: “I didn’t get paid f***ing money to be here tonight, but here I am… Listen, Saga, if I’m here for you, I want to perform for you. All the equipment, everything is failing me. I can’t perform. It’s impossible for me to perform.”
Saga responded to Hardwell on Instagram, writing: “The crew travelled all the way from the Netherlands, as did you… We have worked extremely hard to build this year’s Saga for our artists and ravers. We would have solved any technical issues effortlessly and quickly, had you let us and not stopped your set so early. We have done everything we could to accommodate your requests, including the agreed payments.”
Concert cancellations are nothing new for Minaj. In May, the “Super Bass” rapper was arrested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport for possession of what Dutch police called “soft drugs,” just as she was about to fly to Manchester for a scheduled performance. Despite being fined and released, she was unable to attend the concert, attributing the ordeal to deliberate obstruction.
In her statement on Sunday, Minaj said she was “so excited to see my fans this Friday in London for another very special headline show at Wireless Festival” as the Pink Friday 2 World Tour resumes.
