*Ticket sales for R. Kelly’s The After Party Tour have dropped off since his sex cult allegations surfaced, and the people representing the troubled crooner appear to have done the same.
According to Billboard, the sales slump has reportedly created a rift between Kelly and his booking agent, Ron Kaplan.
When asked if he still represented R. Kelly, Kaplan told Billboard “no comment” and referred questions to Kelly’s attorney Linda S. Mensch. Mensch in turn referred Billboard to R. Kelly’s publicist Trevian Kutti, who has not responded to a request for comment.
Kelly, 51, has vehemently denied claims of “brainwashing” women into a “cult,” first reported by BuzzFeed. While some of the women allegedly held captive had denied the claims, several victims’ parents have described the young women as “brainwashed.”
The crooner has completed three dates of The After Party Tour, but four dates on the tour have been canceled, some because of poor ticket sales.
Via Billboard:
On Monday night, four venues canceled R Kelly tour dates: UNO Lakefront Arena (Aug. 11) in New Orleans; Raising Cane’s River Center Arena (Aug. 12) in Baton Rouge, La.; Music Hall at Fair Park (Aug. 13) in Dallas; and Microsoft Theatre (Oct. 6) at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. One booker at a venue that canceled the show told Billboard sales had ground to a halt since the new allegations of sexual abuse surfaced.
The After Party Tour is being individually promoted in each market, and several talent buyers for upcoming shows told Billboard that sales aren’t great but that, for now, they are still scheduled to go forward. The next concert is slated for Friday at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant, Mich. According to the ticket map for the page, the majority of tickets appear to be sold but there were still plenty left in each of the venue’s 14 different seating sections.
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