פירוש על עבודה זרה 33:12

This is the amazing story of how a prostitute’s fart led to the death of the great fornicating rabbi, Rabbi Elazar b. Dordai. I think it is remarkable that the rabbis preserve such a tale and attribute it to a rabbi nonetheless.

Elazar dies when he repents from fornication, not minut.
The answer is that his addiction to fornication is like minut, it is like apostasy. I think there is a deep sense of truth in this—being addicted to something like sex is to give one’s entire being over to it. It is “minut” if we take “minut” to mean a life devoted to purposes larger than mere gratification of one’s bodily senses.