Tag: australia rkelly

Future of controversial R&B star’s tour Down Under looks uncertain after ’90s battery conviction and allegations of sexual misconduct

Controversial American R&B star R. Kelly announced this week he will tour Australia and New Zealand in February 2019.

The 51-year-old Ignition singer will perform his first show in Brisbane on Friday, February 8.

However, the announcement has led to speculation the scandal-plagued star may be banned from entering Australia due to its strict visa regulations, after he was convicted of battery in the ’90s and also faced allegations of sexual misconduct. 

‘Mr Kelly was cleared of all allegations and in our view, you are innocent until proven guilty.’ 

It comes after the likes of Chris Brown and Snoop Dogg (real name Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.) were banned from entering Australia due to their past convictions. 

In 2015, Chris had to cancel his tours of Australia and New Zealand due to being denied a visa over his history of domestic violence. 

In 2007, Snoop Dogg was banned due to drug and firearm offences. 

It was previously reported by Billboard that R. Kelly was charged with simple battery and sentenced to one year unsupervised probation after a brawl at a health club in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1996.

Meanwhile, just last week R. Kelly made headlines when a New York screening of an upcoming documentary detailing abuse allegations against him was evacuated.

Phone threats were made to the Manhattan location where it was being held. 

The documentary examines the singer’s history, and in particular allegations that he has sexually abused women and girls. He has denied any wrongdoing. 

In May this year, it was reported that a former teenage girlfriend of R. Kelly – who is suing him for allegedly giving her herpes – claimed he also videotaped himself having non-consensual sex with her.  

Faith Rodgers was 19 years old when she started dating R. Kelly, whom she met at a party after his concert in San Antonio, Texas. She claims that the relationship quickly became abusive.

She spoke to CBS News about her relationship with R. Kelly, saying she filed the lawsuit against him in New York for ‘willfully, deliberately and maliciously’ infecting her with herpes to warn other teenage girls who may come into contact with him. 

Rodgers added that she believes Kelly was trying to bring her into a group of women that he lives with. Kelly has been accused of running a ‘sex cult’ with several women at his disposal.

The sexual abuse lawsuit filed by Rodgers is the latest in a string of accusations that the musician – whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly – made women have sex with him.

The singer, however, recently said he has been left ‘heartbroken’ by the allegations, and has criticised the media for trying to distort and destroy his legacy by reporting allegations that he sexually mistreats women.

He was acquitted of child pornography charges in Chicago in 2008, The Guardian reported – but speculation about his alleged sexual misconduct has continued. 

In October, R. Kelly’s ex-wife Andrea Kelly broke down during a TV interview while discussing their marriage, saying she suffers from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of an alleged assault by her then-husband. 

‘I remember one time he attacked me in the back of a Hummer, and I do suffer from PTSD because of it,’ Andrea, who was married to the star for 13 years, told The View. 

‘I thought I was going to die in the back of the Hummer because of what he had done.’ 

Andrea Kelly also spoke to The Sister Circle in June about the marriage, saying how it drove her to almost commit suicide and how she feels sorry for the young women who R. Kelly is now accused of keeping as ‘sex slaves’. 

The former couple divorced in 2009. It was R. Kelly’s second marriage as he reportedly previously wed late singer Aaliyah when she was aged 15 and he was 27. 

Article via DailyMail