R. Kelly gives 28-second performance at Illinois club to fans who paid up to US$100 per ticket
- Kelly, who has struggled to find work in the US after being charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse, said ‘this is how I got to get paid now’
R&B singer R. Kelly made a paid appearance early Sunday at a club in Illinois’ capital city, but the fans who each shelled out US$50 to US$100 for tickets got only a 28-second performance, followed by a half-hour meet-and-greet.
Hours before his appearance at the Dirty South Lounge in Springfield, Kelly posted a video on Instagram asking the media to “take it easy” on him because “this is how I got to get paid now, for right now”.
Kelly, 52, was charged in February with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse that accused him of assaulting four women during a roughly 10-year period starting in the late 1990s.
Three of the accusers were underage at the time. He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
Since his arrest, the cash-strapped singer has struggled to get work in the US, Kelly’s lawyer Steve Greenberg wrote in a motion last month seeking permission for Kelly to perform in Dubai and meet with members of the sheikhdom’s royal family.