Despite all the accusations against R&B singer R. Kelly, the Madison Square Garden event managers still refused to decline his upcoming September 15 concert there — so Hurricane Florence did it for them. According to Spin, representative of the concert’s promotion company confirmed via phone that the upcoming show, scheduled to take place at the iconic venue’s Hulu Theater, was canceled by the impending landfall of the hurricane off the coast of South Carolina.
The promotion company, Victory Promotions, which is also based in South Carolina, told Spin that the storm would make it difficult for the concert’s production crew to travel from South Carolina to New York City for the upcoming date. According to a Madison Square Garden representative, the controversial booking went ahead because “MSG has a long history of not censoring performers. We believe artists have the right to rent our venues to put on their own event, and that the public then has the choice whether or not to support that event.”
R. Kelly, who has been accused of keeping an abusive “sex cult” of young women against their will, among other things, recently released a sprawling, 20-minute track to address the accusations titled, “I Admit.” Spin reports that tickets to the show were not selling well, but that sales were not a factor in the last-minute cancelation.
