Online outrage over that reporting led to a social media campaign, #MuteRKelly. “Surviving R. Kelly,” broadcast in six parts this month by Lifetime, reinvigorated that campaign, leading to protests outside the corporate offices of RCA and Sony in New York and Culver City, Calif. Prosecutors in Chicago and Atlanta, where Mr. Kelly has lived, have asked women to come forward, but Mr. Kelly has not been charged with a crime.
Celebrities like Lady Gaga, Celine Dion and Chance the Rapper, who collaborated with Mr. Kelly in the past, distanced themselves with contrite statements; Lady Gaga removed a 2013 track, “Do What U Want,” from online music services.
Asante McGee, a fan who became part of Mr. Kelly’s entourage, said that during her time with him, he forbade her from looking other men in the eye and made her ask permission to go to the bathroom. Ms. McGee said in an interview on Friday that she felt vindicated knowing Kelly was finally facing consequences.
“I am relieved,” Ms. McGee said. “His time is coming to an end.”
For the women in the documentary and their families, the release of “Surviving R. Kelly” also brought fears of retaliation.
On Friday, a man who has been part of Kelly’s management team, Henry James Mason, turned himself in to the authorities in Georgia, after being wanted on a warrant for terroristic threats and acts against Timothy Savage, whose daughter Joycelyn is believed to be living with Kelly. Mr. Mason denied the accusations.
Mr. Savage and his wife, Jonjelyn, appeared in the documentary saying that they had not had contact with their daughter in years. Last year, TMZ published a video in which Joycelyn Savage said she was happy living with Mr. Kelly and was there of her own volition. Last week, Mr. Kelly’s lawyer, Steven Greenberg, called the relationships “perfectly consensual” and said that Mr. Kelly never knowingly had sex with anyone underage.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/18/arts/music/r-kelly-rca-sony.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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