Singer Nicki Minaj is denying claims that one of her dancers was involved with the death of a fan, who died shortly after attending Minaj's Tokyo concert on May 23.
According to MTV.com's RapFix, the 21-year-old fan -- Nicola Furlong -- was a foreign exchange student from Ireland's Dublin City University. She attended the show at Zepp Tokyo, and was discovered strangled in her hotel room just a few hours later.
"Saddened to learn one of my precious fans; found tragically murdered in Japan. My love & prayers are with the family of Nicola Furlong," Minaj tweeted later.
Irish Central reports that two Americans, 23-year-old dancer James "King Tight" Jamari Blackston and another musician (whose name was being withheld since he is considered a minor under Japanese law) have been held and questioned over Furlong's death.
The controversy began when Perez Hilton alleged on May 30 that one of those arrested on suspicion of rape and murder was a backup dancer for Minaj. This did not go over well with Minaj, who took to Twitter to refute the claim.
"My dancers had nothing to do w/this tragedy. No one in my entourage was questioned or arrested. They all flew home from Japan," she tweeted Thursday. She added, "@PerezHilton that person on your sight is NOT my dancer. We do NOT know the men in custody. Too much misleading information."
A new blog post on Hilton's site went on to offer this mea culpa: "Sounds to us then like these monsters may have lied about being associated with Her Minajesty just to lure these poor girls in."
Tokyo police released a statement that Irish Central published, noting: "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.... As that is an indecent act, they have been charged with quasi forcible indecency."
Quasi-forcible indecency is a Japanese legal term used to describe sexual assault.
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