R. Kelly has dropped the bombshell that his recent Australian & NZ tour announcement was essentially a crock of sh*t.
The announcement of the so-called King of R&B‘s all-ages 2019 Australian tour sparked controversy yesterday, in the wake of the singer facing multiple allegations of sexual abuse.
Speaking with Music Feeds, promoter Big Music Tour defended the decision to bring the singer to our shores next year, saying “our focus remains on his incredible music and bringing the show to his Australian and New Zealand fans,” and adding that “Mr Kelly was cleared of all allegations and in our view, you are innocent until proven guilty”.
But in a bizarre plot twist, R. Kelly himself has his social media to out the tour announcement as a big fat phoney.
Posting an image of the tour poster on Instagram that’s been edited with a big ‘X’ over the dates and the word ‘FAKE’ emblazoned across it, Kelly writes:”FAKE TOUR ALERT”.
“While I love all my amazing Fans in the Australia region I am NOT involved in this tour nor do I have knowledge of it, it’s promoters, etc.” he continues.
“I will NOT be in Australia during these dates. Watch my social media…when it’s time for my next international tour (which is soon) you’ll hear it directly from me. Stay tuned for more King shit in the VERY near future.”
In a statement, tour promoter Big Music Tour said:
“We are very concerned with R Kelly’s post today on his social media.
“Our company has been dealing with his manager and are aware, that after our announcement yesterday, offers from other Australian promoters, offering higher fees than we have in our executed artist agreement, started to be presented to Mr Kelly through other sources. We did not anticipate it would cause any issues, but unfortunately it has.
“It baffles us why it took over 24hours to post his response and we are still in constant communication with his manager to rectify this amicably.”
Kelly, who was accused of abuse, transmitting a sexual disease and false imprisonment in a lawsuit filed against him in May, has also faced a boycott campaign backed by the ‘Time’s Up’ movement, amid allegations of sexual misconduct, including with underaged women.
In July he released a new 19-minute song called ‘I Admit’, in which he admitted he has been with “older and younger [ladies]” in the past and has “made some mistakes”, but denied allegations of sexual misconduct.
Kelly also claimed in the song that he was the victim of sexual abuse as a child.
In May this year, Spotify removed Kelly’s music from its curated playlists as part of its ‘hate content and hateful conduct’ policy.
