Australian politicians suggest banning R. Kelly after tour announcement

In wake of ‘Surviving R. Kelly’, Australian residents and MPs express ‘serious concerns’ about letting the singer in their country

On Monday, Time's Up published an open letter announcing a #MuteRKelly protest. We stand linked with our sisters and will no longer tolerate the predatory behavior of R. Kelly to go unchecked. This is a call to action to #MuteRKelly. His music must be turned down and the voices of these brave survivors must be heard." Jurnee Smollett-Bell

R. Kelly on Tuesday announced a new tour, and Twitter —and Australian officials — quickly went in to “nope” mode.

The singer posted the tour locations — Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka  — but no dates. The posts have been deleted from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

In January, Lifetime premiered its highly anticipated docuseries "Surviving R. Kelly," which delved into the singer's history of alleged physical and emotional abuse of women.

» 'I'm just disgusted': Twitter weighs in on night one of Lifetime's R. Kelly docuseries

And in 2017,  — whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly  — was accused of holding “women against their will in a cult” at his homes in two cities, including one in metro Atlanta.

"According to the story, the women who live with him are forbidden to contact their families, must ask his permission to go anywhere or communicate with anyone and are required to call him 'Daddy.' The people cited in the story also say that Kelly films his sexual encounters with the women," The AJC reported.

After his tour announcement Tuesday, Australia's opposition Labor party released a statement saying the singer should not be permitted to enter the country, the BBC reported.

"Labor strongly supports the refusal or cancellation of visas of non-citizens on character or criminal grounds," the document said.

Shayne Neumann, the Australian shadow minister for immigration and border protection, has said the Labor party would be "seriously concerned" if Kelly was allowed into the country, the Guardian reported.

Australia's department of home affairs told the BBC it "does not comment on individual cases", but Australia has previously barred entry to people in similar situations.

Twitter users didn’t hesitate to express their opinion of the Grammy Award-winning singer coming to Australia.

» 7 things to know about R. Kelly

» R. Kelly accused of abusing women, running 'cult' in Johns Creek