Almost a half-hour
after Jay-Z appeared on Hot 97 to discuss R. Kelly’s now infamous abrupt
departure from their Madison Square Garden concert Friday night (Oct. 29), the
singer appeared on the station, with his side of the story.
Kelly dismissed
the notion that he was jealous of Jay-Z and instead, offered a more ominous
reason for the turbulence.
“I was threatened
earlier,” Kelly claimed. “[Somebody said], ‘don’t come
to Madison Square Garden.’ I’ve never been scared of anything but
God, so I came anyway. It was nobody I knew. It happens. I travel with three
kids and a wife of mine. During Jay’s part I saw a dude looking hard at
me.”
As he started to
perform, Kelly said he saw two men making motions as if they guns trained on
him. He said the fear of imminent danger and an actual assault forced his show
to falter.
He said that he
refused to come back on stage until his security detail found the people that
appeared to have pointed guns at him.
Kelly revealed
that 40 or more police officers searched the area. After a sweep of the area,
he attempted to perform with Ja Rule, but was pepper sprayed by an unnamed individual
as he approached the stage.
Kelly was taken
to St. Vincent’s Hospital where he and two bodyguards had their eyes flushed
out.
“This ain’t
the first time that I been in an audience and somebody makes a messed up gesture
at me,” Kelly clarified. “[But] I became nervous as hell. I was
concerned about my kids and my wife so I went to the dressing room and by that
time the NYPD came and I told them what had happened,” he said.
“I got pepper
sprayed on the way to the stage. It went in my eye. An ambulance came and got
me to the hospital. I ain’t never been pepper sprayed in my life. It was in
my eyes, it was in my mouth.” he said.
Kelly said that
he was willing to finish the tour, despite the highly touted collaboration between
the two superstars being one of the worst in recent history.
“There are
always two sides to the story,” Kelly said. “I’m willing to
finish the tour. My eyes are better.”
Kelly also dismissed
the notion that he harbored animosity toward Jay-Z.
“I wasn’t
going to take any chances," Kelly stated. "I apologize to my fans
for the show going left. I love performing and I’m still successful at
it. There is no way that Jay can do better than me. We’re both at the
top of our game. There can be no competing. I expected this to happen here,
because this is his home.”
“I’m
15 years deep in the business, I know what Jay is at home,” Kelly said
referring to Jay-Z’s popularity in New York. “If you guys just take a
minute and go back 15 years, I have never stopped a show. I’m not about
competing with people.”
