SALT LAKE CITY – FEBRUARY 8: (FILE PHOTO) Singer R. Kelly performs at the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games at the Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium February 8, 2002 in Salt Lake City, UT. R. Kelly, was arrested on a warrant alleging 12 counts of possession of child pornography on January 22, 2003 in Miami, FL. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
By now, we’ve all watched, or heard about the docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly that aired on Lifetime last week. The docuseries featured testimony from women who claimed to have “survived” the King of R&B’s sexual misconduct, predatory behavior, and pedophilia. While Lifetime is noting these claims to be “allegations”, a lot of them don’t come as a surprise.
Since early 2000, the now shamed R&B artist, have received a lot of attention in the media as this sexual predator, mostly after the infamous sex tape revealed what appeared to be the singer having sex with an underaged girl. R. Kelly went to trial for this tape, but was ultimately found “not guilty”, mainly due to the prosecution not being able to prove that the woman in the video was actually underaged. So it seemed, along with the ‘Not Guilty’ verdict, people seemingly forgave the singer and moved on from the situation, making light of the fact that he may or may not be a sexual predator, but for certain, was and will always be the King of R&B.
The allegations and rumors against R. Kelly never fainted his success. Even when we “kinda believed” he married the young singer, Aaliyah, we still allowed him to make hit songs; producing and writing for some of the greatest talent ever. We continued to Step in the Name of Love as Happy People, neglecting the singer’s dark past. The more he proved himself as the King of R&B, through his music, the more the industry, and the world forgave him–the more we swept his past under the rug. As long as we didn’t see his truth, and the more he “apologized” by way of his music, all was well.
But now. The recent uproar.
Bringing light to R. Kelly’s disturbing and rather disgusting sexual past, by way of TV and social media, has somehow forced us to see him for the sexual predator he really is, and the sexual predator we’ve ignored, and glorified.
Many of Kelly’s victims went on to publish books
SALT LAKE CITY – FEBRUARY 8: (FILE PHOTO) Singer R. Kelly performs at the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games at the Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium February 8, 2002 in Salt Lake City, UT. R. Kelly, was arrested on a warrant alleging 12 counts of possession of child pornography on January 22, 2003 in Miami, FL. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
By now, we’ve all watched, or heard about the docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly that aired on Lifetime last week. The docuseries featured testimony from women who claimed to have “survived” the King of R&B’s sexual misconduct, predatory behavior, and pedophilia. While Lifetime is noting these claims to be “allegations”, a lot of them don’t come as a surprise.
Since early 2000, the now shamed R&B artist, have received a lot of attention in the media as this sexual predator, mostly after the infamous sex tape revealed what appeared to be the singer having sex with an underaged girl. R. Kelly went to trial for this tape, but was ultimately found “not guilty”, mainly due to the prosecution not being able to prove that the woman in the video was actually underaged. So it seemed, along with the ‘Not Guilty’ verdict, people seemingly forgave the singer and moved on from the situation, making light of the fact that he may or may not be a sexual predator, but for certain, was and will always be the King of R&B.
The allegations and rumors against R. Kelly never fainted his success. Even when we “kinda believed” he married the young singer, Aaliyah, we still allowed him to make hit songs; producing and writing for some of the greatest talent ever. We continued to Step in the Name of Love as Happy People, neglecting the singer’s dark past. The more he proved himself as the King of R&B, through his music, the more the industry, and the world forgave him–the more we swept his past under the rug. As long as we didn’t see his truth, and the more he “apologized” by way of his music, all was well.
But now. The recent uproar.
Bringing light to R. Kelly’s disturbing and rather disgusting sexual past, by way of TV and social media, has somehow forced us to see him for the sexual predator he really is, and the sexual predator we’ve ignored, and glorified.
Many of Kelly’s victims went on to publish books