Nicki Minaj cancelled a disastrous London meet-and-greet

Wild-eyed Nicki Minaj fans, or Barbz as they call themselves, ran rampant in Camden yesterday after they were teased with an opportunity to meet their patron saint and queen. 

The Minaj meet-and-greet tanked spectacularly and had to be cancelled after the rapper told her 198 million Instagram followers to meet her outside Camden’s Cafe Koko at midday. Sounds like a good idea to me?

Despite disappointing fans by being 30 minutes late to her set at the festival, die-hard Barbz descended onto north London. Because of delays, Minaj didn’t show up to Cafe Koko until almost 6pm, by which time thousands of fans had shown up. The Met had to deploy dozens of officers to control the increasingly jittery crowd hoping to get a view of the 39-year-old.

Not coming without her own controversies (remember that swollen testicles tweet, guys?), Minaj fans seem as ardent, and feral, as ever. As soon as the rapper pulled up to the site, the Barbz swarmed the convoy in a frenzy.

Before getting out of her car, Minaj tweeted: ‘Guys, if you don’t get in a contained space they won’t let me get out the cars. Pls don’t run in the streets. Please get in 1 place. 1 line.’

In an attempt to greet some of the fans, Minaj eventually got out the car surrounded by police officers. Despite asking people to put down their cameras, a video of Minaj on Twitter shows her telling fans to stop and calm down. 

Eventually the meet-up had to be abandoned. Like a scene from a zombie apocalypse, Barbz were also seen sprinting after Minaj in her blacked-out van as she drove away from the failed event. 

Minaj headlined Wireless as part of a historic all-woman lineup, which included SZA, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. 

Cafe Koko hasn’t yet commented on the debacle. 

Talk about a buzz kill, this Croydon festival was shut down by a swarm of bees.

Have London festivals *really* improved their representation of women?