R. KELLY/JAY-Z TOUR CANCELLED
'Unfinished Business' has whole new meaning.
*Those who were able to catch one
of the early shows on the R. Kelly/Jay-Z
40-city "Best of Both Worlds" tour behind
the Tuesday release of new CD "Unfinished
Business', hang onto your ticket stub
because its value just skyrocketed.
A flurry of activity happened over the
weekend, beginning Friday with Kelly allegedly
being pepper sprayed by a member of Jay-Z's
crew, and ending with the tour's outright
cancellation, announced the following
day by promoter Jeff Sharp of Atlanta
Worldwide Touring.
On Sunday, lawyers for Kelly were in
the process of filing a criminal complaint
against the alleged pepper spray perpetrator
and considering other legal action.
The tour got off to a controversial and
critically-attacked start in Chicago, with
Kelly allegedly making numerous references
to his child molestation case while on stage.
Cancelled dates and rumors of Kelly and
Jigga beefing would soon follow, and it all
came to a head Saturday with the tour's
abrupt cancellation, one day after Kelly
walked offstage mid-performance and
into an alleged cloud of pepper spray.
The pepper-spray incident happened
about an hour into Friday night's show at the
Garden, when Kelly walked on stage and said
he saw two people in the audience waving guns,
said Kelly's lawyer Allan Mayer. Kelly cut the
set short around 9:30 p.m. and walked off the
stage while arena security employees searched
the stunned crowd for weapons.
Finding none, guards told Kelly it was
safe to continue performing, Mayer said. While
Jay-Z was onstage performing and Kelly was
backstage, one of Jay-Z's boys- apparently hot
over the crooner interrupting the show - sprayed
Kelly and two of his bodyguards in the face,
Mayer said.
All three men were treated at St. Vincent's
Hospital and released, he said. Jay-Z performed
for another 45 minutes after Kelly was sprayed.
Jana Fleishman, publicist for Jay-Z, said
Saturday that the rapper's entourage knew
nothing about the incident because it occurred
while Jay-Z was performing. Jay-Z "did not attack
R. Kelly in any way, shape or form," Fleishman
said.
In a radio interview on Hot 97 FM radio
Friday, Jay-Z said he was baffled at Kelly's
decision to leave the stage.
"You can't get a gun inside Madison
Square Garden," said the MC. "If people give
me love he can't take it."
Kelly was booted from shows Saturday
and Monday at Madison Square Garden by
the promoter, who also banned the singer
from the facility, said Mayer. The promoter
announced that Jay-Z, with special guests,
would do the shows alone.
"The fans deserve better than this," Kelly
said in a statement released Saturday afternoon.
"I'd like the show to go on. It's really disappointing
that Jay-Z and the promoter don't."
By Saturday night, the tour, which had
been scheduled to run through Nov. 28, was
cancelled altogether - because of "technical
difficulties" suffered by Kelly, according to
Fleishman, who was unsure if Jay-Z would
try and fill the remaining dates as a solo act.
The "Chicago Sun-Times" first reported
static between Kelly and Jay-Z after Kelly
showed up more than two hours late for
a show in Chicago and walked off the stage
mid-performance in St. Louis this month - then
hit the Ronald McDonald drive thru in what we
like to call the McDonald's "Happy Meal/U
Saved Me" Meltdown.
'Unfinished Business' has whole new meaning.
*Those who were able to catch one
of the early shows on the R. Kelly/Jay-Z
40-city "Best of Both Worlds" tour behind
the Tuesday release of new CD "Unfinished
Business', hang onto your ticket stub
because its value just skyrocketed.
A flurry of activity happened over the
weekend, beginning Friday with Kelly allegedly
being pepper sprayed by a member of Jay-Z's
crew, and ending with the tour's outright
cancellation, announced the following
day by promoter Jeff Sharp of Atlanta
Worldwide Touring.
On Sunday, lawyers for Kelly were in
the process of filing a criminal complaint
against the alleged pepper spray perpetrator
and considering other legal action.
The tour got off to a controversial and
critically-attacked start in Chicago, with
Kelly allegedly making numerous references
to his child molestation case while on stage.
Cancelled dates and rumors of Kelly and
Jigga beefing would soon follow, and it all
came to a head Saturday with the tour's
abrupt cancellation, one day after Kelly
walked offstage mid-performance and
into an alleged cloud of pepper spray.
The pepper-spray incident happened
about an hour into Friday night's show at the
Garden, when Kelly walked on stage and said
he saw two people in the audience waving guns,
said Kelly's lawyer Allan Mayer. Kelly cut the
set short around 9:30 p.m. and walked off the
stage while arena security employees searched
the stunned crowd for weapons.
Finding none, guards told Kelly it was
safe to continue performing, Mayer said. While
Jay-Z was onstage performing and Kelly was
backstage, one of Jay-Z's boys- apparently hot
over the crooner interrupting the show - sprayed
Kelly and two of his bodyguards in the face,
Mayer said.
All three men were treated at St. Vincent's
Hospital and released, he said. Jay-Z performed
for another 45 minutes after Kelly was sprayed.
Jana Fleishman, publicist for Jay-Z, said
Saturday that the rapper's entourage knew
nothing about the incident because it occurred
while Jay-Z was performing. Jay-Z "did not attack
R. Kelly in any way, shape or form," Fleishman
said.
In a radio interview on Hot 97 FM radio
Friday, Jay-Z said he was baffled at Kelly's
decision to leave the stage.
"You can't get a gun inside Madison
Square Garden," said the MC. "If people give
me love he can't take it."
Kelly was booted from shows Saturday
and Monday at Madison Square Garden by
the promoter, who also banned the singer
from the facility, said Mayer. The promoter
announced that Jay-Z, with special guests,
would do the shows alone.
"The fans deserve better than this," Kelly
said in a statement released Saturday afternoon.
"I'd like the show to go on. It's really disappointing
that Jay-Z and the promoter don't."
By Saturday night, the tour, which had
been scheduled to run through Nov. 28, was
cancelled altogether - because of "technical
difficulties" suffered by Kelly, according to
Fleishman, who was unsure if Jay-Z would
try and fill the remaining dates as a solo act.
The "Chicago Sun-Times" first reported
static between Kelly and Jay-Z after Kelly
showed up more than two hours late for
a show in Chicago and walked off the stage
mid-performance in St. Louis this month - then
hit the Ronald McDonald drive thru in what we
like to call the McDonald's "Happy Meal/U
Saved Me" Meltdown.
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