S. Samuel
Young Money's Nicki Minaj is setting the record straight after catching heat for her crew getting targeted in the murder of a female fan last week following a Tokyo, Japan concert.
Resorting to Twitter, Minaj made sure to let her 12.2 million followers know her side of the story.
“Saddened to learn one of my precious fans; found tragically murdered in Japan. My love & prayers are with the family of Nicola Furlong,” she tweeted May 31st.
“@PerezHilton my dancers had nothing to do w/this tragedy. No one in my entourage was questioned or arrested. They all flew home from Japan”
“@PerezHilton that person on your sight is NOT my dancer. We do NOT know the men in custody. Too much misleading information.” (Nicki Minaj’s Twitter)
Despite her remarks, reports claim one of the murder suspects is connected to Minaj.
Local reports from Japan claim that Furlong and her friend were approached by the two men after a Nicki Minaj concert. Witnesses report that the two women were pushed into a taxi. Police are also investigating whether they were drugged before they were assaulted. The American suspects are James Blackston (23) and an unnamed 19-year-old backing musician. Blackston, from south central Los Angeles, had a high profile as a dancer who has worked with Nicki Minaj and the Black Eyed Peas among others. Both men are in Japan working for Japanese singer Ai Carina Uemura. (Irish Central)
Reports claim the female victim likely died after getting strangled.
“These two men allegedly took advantage of a female unable to resist due to the fact she was in a comatose state from a highly alcoholic beverage. On a taxi ride between Shibuya and Shinjuku, they took advantage of a woman by touching her body,” a police report reads. An autopsy says that Furlong was likely strangled, Japan’s Mainichi reports. “Nicola was a warm, generous, stunning person who always had time for her family and other people,” the family of the deceased said in a statement on Sunday. “She stood for everything that is good in life.” (Huffington Post)
The Irish foreign exchange student reportedly studied abroad in Japan.
Furlong, a 21-year-old student at Dublin City University, had been studying abroad at the Takasaki City University of Economics, located 60 miles outside of Tokyo. On Wednesday night, she and a friend met two men who were attending the same Nicki Minaj concert in Tokyo. Afterward, all four were seen returning in a cab to the Keio Plaza hotel in Tokyo. (Irish Independent)
