If you think that doing karaoke to “Ignition (Remix)“ in the wake of the recent BuzzFeed News story alleging R. Kelly is brainwashing young women into participating in an abusive “sex cult” is problematic, try going to an R. Kelly concert. It seems that people are having second thoughts about doing just that, as Billboard reports that the R&B singer has canceled three of the 10 dates currently scheduled for his “After Party” tour.
Those would be the Dallas, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans shows, which TMZ says were canceled due to lack of ticket sales. That’s according to TMZ’s famous anonymous sources, although the tabloid did cite its sources in reporting that less than half the tickets to Kelly’s Friday night show in Virginia Beach were sold as of Friday afternoon. (TMZ also says that an upcoming R. Kelly show in Los Angeles has been canceled, but it’s still on sale on Ticketmaster as of this writing, with tickets going for $93 a pop for nosebleed seats.)
As for what to expect if you do show up to an R. Kelly show these days, Billboard has a snippet of video taken from Instagram showing Kelly taking a fan’s phone and rubbing it vigorously against his crotch at the aforementioned Virginia Beach show, which lasted for a mere 45 minutes (the concert, not the rubbing). Maybe fans are just worried about getting pinkeye.