In December, R. Kelly was ordered to court after missing a prior hearing allegedly because of the Utah police, who stopped his tour bus for speeding. The date of that hearing–which was also marked by R. having cell phone shots of him snapped by an amateur paparazzo who was awaiting a probation hearing–was the same day as an R. show in Minneapolis that had been canceled two days prior, and the fact that R. was within driving distance is making the promoter both suspicious and litigious. Now the promoter is claiming that Kelly never intended to play Minneapolis in the first place–it had already been rescheduled once–and he should be paid back the $120,000 that he laid out for the aborted gig.

According to the lawsuit, the concert was actually canceled on Dec. 18–two days beforehand, and a day before the Utah traffic stop that eventually led to Kelly missing one hearing and being hauled into court under penalty of jail time. Kelly’s fear of flight and insistence on traveling from city to city by bus, coupled with the crazy winter weather that’s been going on in flyover country, probably contributed to the anticipatory weather cancellation. Not for anything, but if Kells had driven up to do a stripped-down version of the show on his own, would the promoter have been satisfied? I mean, I’m sure I would have loved it, but something tells me that he’d be only slightly less aggravated.

R. Kelly Sued — Disorder in the Court! [TMZ]
[Photo: AP]