Perhaps R. Kelly went onto Instagram this past week to beg the media to “go easy” on him because he didn’t want the press to mess up the desperately needed bag he was about to get for an appearance in his home state.
The “Step in the Name of Love” singer, 52, ran off with $22,000 just to show his face at the Dirty South Lounge in Springfield, Illinois, and hang out for only an hour — despite the stack of felony charges and child support payments staring him in the face.
TMZ said Kelly showed up at the near-empty club at 10:30 p.m. and didn’t come out to mix it up with the fans until about 2 a.m.
The best part for R. Kelly is that he wasn’t required to perform to get the bag. Images showing him belting out the opening lines of his classic song “Bump N’ Grind” was just R. Kelly doing that for fun.
And for that, Kelly pocketed $20,000 and paid his booking agent $2,000 for the assist, the entertainment publication stated.
Only about 50 people showed up, but the embattled singer made the best of it, drinking and partying with fans.
The struggle is real for R. Kelly these days. He’s been unofficially blacklisted by most performance venues and clubs nationwide — except in Philadelphia, where local lawmakers passed a resolution officially stating they didn’t even want Kelly in their city. But somehow, Kelly must continue to find ways to earn money to make his child support payments to his ex-wife and defend himself against 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving underage girls.
