R. Kelly Announces New Tour in Midst of 'Surviving' Backlash

R. Kelly has announced that he will be setting out on a new tour, in the midst of the backlash [...]

By Stephen Andrew

R. Kelly has announced that he will be setting out on a new tour, in the midst of the backlash over the docuseries exposing sexual assault allegations against the singer.

In a post shared to Twitter, Kelly revealed a promo for the tour, which will take him to Australia, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka.

The new run of shows comes after Kelly had a number of concerts in the U.S. cancelled, and was also dropped by his record label, after allegations that he has been holding women captive in a sex cult emerged and were documented in the Lifetime series, Surviving R. Kelly.

Steven Greenberg, Kelly's lawyer, spoke to Good Morning America about the claims, echoed Kelly's vehement denial of any wrongdoing, saying, "We know what happened, and we know those things didn't happen. The man was not operating a harem, or a sex cult, or holding people hostage or anything like that."

"People shouldn't be able to do this to someone," he added, then going on to say that the "I Believe I Can Fly" singer will "hopefully...sue Lifetime" for defamation of character.

Greenberg addressed Joycelyn Savage as well, a woman who's been alleged to be held captive "against her will" by Kelly. "No one ever complained about anything until some producer came and found that," the attorney said of the situation.

He also attempted to discredit Savage's family by implying that their motivations for making allegations against Kelly are financially-based.

"So, Mr. Savage — and I hate to diss used car salesmen — but is a used car salesman who first made allegations. And when he first made allegations, he had his younger daughter present a video blasting R. Kelly saying she's going to be a rap star," Greenberg said. "He's in this for his own personal gain."

Additionally, Kelly's ex-wife Drea Kelly has spoken out about what she experienced during her time with the singer, saying that he was "verbally, emotionally, physically, sexually" abusive of her during the course of their relationship.

"I am a firm believer that if you have been abused, it does not give you a free pass to be an abuser," Drea added, seeming to suggest that Kelly was at some point a victim of abuse in his past.

Though, the singer does not appear to have publicly acknowledged the implication that he was once subjected to sexual or physical abuse himself.

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