R. Kelly has denied that he's planning to go on tour in October, despite R&B singer Keyshia Cole's statement to MTV News that she was to be the opening act on the trek.

"We're actually going on tour together in October," Cole said on Monday.

(See what opening act Keyshia Cole told MTV News on Monday about a possible October jaunt with R. Kelly.)

But Kelly's representative responded with a statement on Thursday (August 23) that reads: "Reports that R. Kelly is planning a concert tour in October are not true. Kelly is currently focused on preparing for his trial and has no definite plans for anything beyond that."

Neither Cole nor Kelly's representatives had confirmed when exactly in October such a tour would begin, or denied that one was being planned. The timing seemed implausible for a number of reasons, primarily because Kelly's trial on child-pornography charges begins September 17 (see [article id="1566043"]"R. Kelly Child-Pornography Case Finally Going To Trial"[/article]). The trial is expected to run for four weeks, but could run longer because of the unpredictable length of jury deliberations.

Also, for the past five years, when Kelly wanted to tour outside the Chicago jurisdiction, he had to ask the court for permission -- in the form of a letter to the prosecutor's office -- to give it time to object (which it often did). However, the state attorney's office told MTV News on Tuesday that Kelly has not yet sought permission to tour this October. Such permission will not be necessary once the trial concludes, as Kelly will either be free to come and go as he pleases, or he'll be awaiting sentencing.

For full coverage of the ongoing R. Kelly case, see The R. Kelly Trial Reports.

[This story was originally published at 4:37 pm E.T. on 08.22.2007]