R&B singer R. Kelly is back in the news, once again for the wrong reasons as some pretty serious accusations have been levied against him.
According to a report from BuzzFeed News, parents of several women are accusing Kelly of holding their daughters against their will in an “abusive sex cult”. Within the report compiled by Jim DeRogatis whose covered the singer for nearly 20 years, the women are apparently being held in properties rented by Kelly near Chicago and Atlanta. Additionally parents allege that Kelly controls ever aspect of the girl’s lives including when and what they can eat, who they can have contact with and when they can bathe among other things.
Three former members of Kelly’s inner circle — Cheryl Mack, Kitti Jones, and Asante McGee — provided details supporting the parents’ worst fears. They said six women live in properties rented by Kelly in Chicago and the Atlanta suburbs, and he controls every aspect of their lives: dictating what they eat, how they dress, when they bathe, when they sleep, and how they engage in sexual encounters that he records.
The last time J. saw her daughter was Dec. 1, 2016.
“It was as if she was brainwashed. [She] looked like a prisoner — it was horrible,” she said. “I hugged her and hugged her. But she just kept saying she’s in love and [Kelly] is the one who cares for her. I don’t know what to do. I hope that if I get her back, I can get her treatment for victims of cults. They can reprogram her. But I wish I could have stopped it from happening.”
Obviously these are accusations at this point however perhaps the most chilling aspect of all of this are the stories told by the parents coincide with one another.
Plus it’s not like R. Kelly is going to get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to any of this. He’s a noted scumbag and has been for many years.
In a December 16, 2013 article via The Village Voice Jessica Hopper outlines various DeRogatis reports when he was a music critic for the Chicago Sun Times highlighting “stomach churning” sexual misconduct accusations against Kelly.
They were stomach-churning. The one young woman, who had been 14 or 15 when R. Kelly began a relationship with her, detailed in great length, in her affidavits, a sexual relationship that began at Kenwood Academy: He would go back in the early years of his success and go to Lina McLin’s gospel choir class. She’s a legend in Chicago, gospel royalty. He would go to her sophomore class and hook up with girls afterward and have sex with them. Sometimes buy them a pair of sneakers. Sometimes just letting them hang out in his presence in the recording studio. She detailed the sexual relationship that she was scarred by. It lasted about one and a half to two years, and then he dumped her and she slit her wrists, tried to kill herself. Other girls were involved. She recruited other girls. He picked up other girls and made them all have sex together. A level of specificity that was pretty disgusting.
I’ll leave everyone with this tweet:
Be angry at R Kelly, but also be angry at the people who make money off him & so stay silent. And know how common this dynamic is in showbiz
— Christopher Shinn (@chris_shinn) July 17, 2017
