Minaj Denies Involvement In Tokyo Death

Nicki Minaj had to go public about her non-involvement in the May 24 death of a fan in Tokyo.

Nicola Furlong, a 21-year-old exchange student from Ireland, attended Minaj’s concert at Zepp Tokyo the night before, where she and a female companion became acquainted with two American men aged 23 and 19.

The two women accompanied the men back to their hotel where, in the early-morning hours, an ambulance was called to the hotel where paramedics found Furlong unconscious.

She died and an autopsy revealed that she may have been strangled.

Both men were detained by police but not for Furlong’s death. Instead, they are being investigated for groping Furlong’s companion, also an Irish woman, in the taxi on the way to the hotel.

The gossip blog perezhilton.com identified one of the men as being James Blackston, one of Minaj’s backup dancers, a claim the rapper vehemently denied.

Photo: AP Photo / Universal Music
Liquid Room, Tokyo, JP

“We do not know the man in custody,” read a Tweet from Minaj’s Twitter account. “My dancers had nothing to do w/this tragedy. No one in my entourage was questioned or arrested. They all flew home from Japan.”