R. Kelly's hopes of doing a tour of Europe in April have been all but dashed now that he is facing new criminal charges.
Kelly defiantly scheduled concerts in two locations in Germany and one in the Netherlands in April despite a cloud of legal issues in the wake of the recently aired Lifetime documentary series "Surviving R. Kelly" that delved into his alleged history of sexually abusing young women and girls. Kelly has denied engaging in sexual misconduct.
But the concerts appear to be scuttled with Friday's charges and a judge recommending that he be jailed without bail.
Even before the charges, venues and promoters abroad were feeling heat to cancel future concerts by the R&B star.
Activists from the #MeToo and #MuteRKelly social media movements have been using the renewed attention around the documentary to press overseas venues to scrap planned Kelly shows. Oronike Odeyele, co-founder of the #MuteRKelly movement in Atlanta, said activists knew of Kelly's planned European performances and were tipped off to his attempts to get picked up by promoters in Latin American countries.
"We're trying to make sure that doesn't happen, and still trying to put the word out there," Odeyele said.
The European concerts were the only confirmed concert dates for Kelly, 52. The Germany shows were scheduled in Neu-Ulm and Hamburg and a third one was slated to be held in Amsterdam.
Ratiopharm Arena in Neu-Ulm warned on its Facebook page that it could shut down the concert if "new facts" emerged.
"We have the possibility to unilaterally cancel the contract with the organizer if R. Kelly is sentenced by a court or if he or his management (concedes) to the allegations," Ratiopharm Arena spokesman Richard King wrote in response to emailed questions from The Associated Press prior to Friday's announcement of charges.
Ratiopharm Arena did not immediately respond to messages about the new charges.
The April 12 concert was originally scheduled to take place in the town of Ludwigsburg in southwestern Germany. But in late January — after the Lifetime documentary aired in the United States — the organizers canceled that venue and moved it to nearby Sindelfingen.
Organizers of the Sindelfingen concert later canceled due to massive online protests. The online petition, called #RKELLYSTUMMSCHALTEN or "silence R. Kelly," had been signed by more than 230,000 people.
The second Germany show was scheduled on April 14 in Hamburg. The operator of the Sporthalle Hamburg arena told the AP that the venue tried to cancel its contract with Kelly's representatives to no avail. The arena said it was up to the organizer, Thomas Bernard.
"Talks with the organizer to cancel the concert amicably, were not successful," Daniel Gritz, spokesman for the city's district of Hamburg-Nord, wrote in an email. "It is therefore up to the organizer to evaluate whether it is opportune to let the concert take place as planned on April 14."
Bernard did not return messages seeking comment, but he issued a statement to ARD public television in Germany last month that stood by the decision hold the concerts.
"Kelly has many fans worldwide, who want to experience the artist and his music live. Everybody can decide freely if he wants to visit the concert or not," the statement said.
Both the Hamburg and the Neu-Ulm venue operators said they could not comment on the number of tickets sold so far.
J. Noah, the booking agency organizing the April 20 Amsterdam show, did not immediately return messages about the new charges. J. Noah boasts on its website that it's has helped book artists like Lil Wayne, Cuban Doll and The Game.
Earlier this month, Kelly announced tour dates in Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in a tweet but then deleted the post. It was not known how far long concerts had been planned for those countries or if they were canceled after the airing of the "Surviving R. Kelly" documentary.
Kelly has performed overseas a number of times. He did a show in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on New Year's Eve 2010. He also performed at the World Cup in 2010 before the opening soccer match between South Africa and Mexico in Johannesburg, South Africa. He toured throughout Europe as part of his 2011 Love Letter Tour.
More of The Associated Press' coverage of the investigations into R. Kelly can be found at: https://www.apnews.com/RKelly .
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).
Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.
That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.
In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.
Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.
In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.
“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.
Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.
It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.
“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.
It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.
While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.
“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.
Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.
Jill Lawless contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
