Ne-Yo and his camp are demanding the rest of the money that was agreed in the contract before he was thrown out of R. Kelly's tour.
- Jan 3, 2008
AceShowbiz - Apparently Ne-Yo has not forgotten how he was thrown out mid R. Kelly's 'Double Up' Tour. The singer, who was tapped as Kelly's supporting act, filed a lawsuit last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, involving a six-figure money.
Together with Compound Touring Inc., Ne-Yo whose born name is Shaffer Smith, filed the suit against Rowe Entertainment Inc. that acts as the tour's promoter, citing breach of contract and violation of the right of publicity. Ne-Yo who reportedly only given $50,000, now demands the remaining $735,000 that was agreed when he was signed alongside the 'not-fired' Keyshia Cole and J. Holiday.
The tour kicked off on November 14 and terminated the contract with Ne-Yo after only two shows, allegedly because the 'Because of You' singer upstaged the main act, R. Kelly. The suit stated, "Plaintiffs allege that an unknown representative of R. Kelly urged Rowe to terminate Smith from the tour given the audience's and critics' more favorable reaction to Smith than the reaction to R. Kelly."
The commitment Ne-Yo and Compound made before the 'firing' had resulted in costing them "substantial monies in preparation for the tour and turned down other touring and performance opportunities for Smith in reliance on Rowe's agreement that Smith would perform on the tour," the suit further stated.
At first Kelly's camp denied the upstaging claim saying that it was all contractual but Ne-Yo was quick to counteract this. He told BET.com, "Let them (Jive) tell it, I was removed from the R. Kelly tour because of contractual agreements not being met, but that's absolutely false."
