The co-headlining tour of R&B singer R. Kelly [ tickets ] and rapper Jay-Z [ tickets ] met an early demise on Saturday (10/30), a day after a member of Jay-Z's entourage allegedly attacked Kelly with pepper spray.

Jay-Z performed Saturday's show at New York's Madison Square Garden with a slate of special guests that included Mariah Carey, Foxy Brown and Sean (P. Diddy) Combs, and he was to augment his show with special guests in place of Kelly though Monday's (11/1) gig at the same venue.

"Guests who were only interested in seeing R. Kelly and wish to get a refund may do so by returning tickets to point of purchase," said a statement posted over the weekend on Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella website. "Refunds for tickets purchased at the box office must be redeemed prior to entry to the venue."

Kelly and Jay-Z were scheduled to tour together through Nov. 28. Though there was speculation that Jay-Z would complete the tour by lining up special guests to fill Kelly's slot, those plans hadn't been confirmed at press time.

A press release issued by Kelly's camp on Saturday said: "Despite being pepper-sprayed by a member of Jay-Z's entourage as he tried to return to the stage in Madison Square Garden last night, Kelly declared he was 'ready, willing, and able' to continue the tour, starting with tonight's scheduled show at the Garden. Jay-Z, however, refused to perform, as a result of which the promoter canceled the tour."

Said Kelly: "The fans deserve better than this. I'd like the show to go on. It's really disappointing that Jay-Z and the promoter don't."

By Monday, reports surfaced that said Kelly was preparing to take legal action against Jay-Z and the tour's organizers.

According to published reports, Kelly left the stage during his Friday performance, claiming that he saw two people with guns in the audience. A search failed to turn up a weapon, but Kelly and two of his bodyguards were attacked with pepper spray as Kelly tried to return to the stage.

In a radio interview following the incident, Jay-Z said that, to his knowledge, his entourage wasn't involved.

Rumors of friction between Jay-Z and R. Kelly began to bubble up earlier this month, coming to a head Oct. 23 in St. Louis when Kelly "stepped into the crowd and walked to the rear of the arena floor, where he got into a heated argument near the soundboard, all captured on the video screens," according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "When Kelly got back to the stage, he took a bow and wasn't seen again."

Following that incident--which came two days after the New York Daily News published in its Rush & Molloy gossip column a quote attributed to a "well-placed source" who claimed that Jay-Z and R. Kelly were not speaking to each other offstage--the tour's stops in Milwaukee and Hartford were canceled due to "technical problems," organizers said.

Jay-Z and R. Kelly were originally due to tour together following the 2002 release of their first collaborative album, "Best of Both Worlds," but those plans were scuttled after Kelly was charged with multiple counts of child pornography. The singer had to gain permission from a judge to embark on the current tour.

Last week, Jay-Z and Kelly issued a follow-up to their 2002 debut. Titled "Best of Both Worlds: Unfinished Business," the set houses 11 tracks, including the singles "Big Chips" and "Don't Let Me Die."