Officials for Fulton County, Georgia, have asked Live Nation Entertainment to cancel an upcoming performance by controversial R&B artist R. Kelly, the Atlanta Journal Constitution is reporting.
Commissioners for the Atlanta-area subdivision
asked the county attorney to draft the request, the Journal Constitution reported, thanks to a recent BuzzFeed report that Mr. Kelly is essentially running a sex cult out of his residence, a charge he denies.
Live Nation officials told the Journal Constitution that Mr. Kelly’s August 25 performance at the Wolf Creek Amphitheater will go on as planned. Fulton County operates the county-owned venue but contracts out concert operations to the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based company.
Cult leader or not, Mr. Kelly does have a checkered sexual history, particularly regarding allegations of statutory rape and a sex tape with an allegedly underage girl. He was acquitted of child porn charges in that case, according to Spin magazine, which has a full timeline of Mr. Kelly’s legal woes here.
While the county won’t force Live Nation to shut the concert down and the company seems unlikely to cancel, activists are promising further action.
“If our demands are not met, we’re prepared to protest the concert,” said Kenyette Tisha Barnes, an organizer of the #MuteRKelly protest campaign, the Journal Constitution reported.
A #MuteRKelly-affiliated petition on Change.org is a few names shy of 1,000 signatures and Ms. Barnes is organizing protesters to show up at the amphitheatre itself, Patch.com reported Tuesday.
“The protest will send a message from the community that the egregiousness of his sexually predatory behavior is not tolerated,” she told Patch in an email interview. “It also sends a message that as a high profile person with a global image, that his influence and power has allowed his behavior to go unchecked. We no longer want this to be the believe.”
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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