For anyone who was hoping to get trapped on the poop deck with R. Kelly on the R&B singer’s Love Letter Cruise this October, your ship has sailed. Kelly’s high seas adventure, which was supposed to depart Miami for the Caribbean and include two concerts by Kelly, a performance by Kelis, a stepping class and more, has been canceled.
According to TMZ, Kelly pulled out of the engagement because the producer never paid him, and when you have $5 million in tax debt to pay off, we presume you don’t want to do too many freebies. “R. Kelly had been looking forward to the cruise and was ready, willing and able to perform for fans,” said a rep. “He is sorry for any disappointment but plans to see his fans very soon on a U.S. tour.” The cruise company has issued a statement saying it would “handle all applicable refunds at point of purchase.” So far the cruise’s website hasn’t been updated with any news about the cancellation.
When SPIN first reported on the story, we noted that the price of travel wasn’t cheap, and according to the Love Letter pricing guide, many of the pricing tiers are sold out, including the Empress Grand Suite. All of the options that are left range from $1,300 to $3,699 for single guests.
At least, as far as we can tell, the second Kiss Kruise, which we thoroughly enjoyed last year, is still “alive,” so we won’t delete the “Calling Dr. Love Boat” fan fiction we’ve been working on just yet.
