‘The Village Voice’ details R. Kelly’s previous sexual assault allegations
Although it’s been years since R. Kelly was acquitted of child pornography charges, The Village Voice is detailing the allegations that fans of the singer either glossed over or were completely unaware of.
Writer Jessica Hooper and Jim DeRogatis formerly of The Chicago Sun-Times, documented the troubling allegations made against R. Kelly that included “shopping” for young girls at a local high school and at least a dozen alleged victims, some of whom settled out of court. One of his accusers alleged that Kelly made her “recruit” other girls so that the teens could have sex with each other.
DeRogatis, who broke the initial R. Kelly story after first receiving a tip via anonymous fax and then the videotape, ultimately told The Voice that his years of covering the story tell him one thing;
“The saddest fact I’ve learned is nobody matters less to our society than young black women.Nobody,” said DeRogatis.
DeRogatis also brought up Aaliyah, who Kelly “allegedly” married when she was 15 and he was 27. Kelly wrote and produced her hit, “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number.”
“I had Aaliyah’s mother cry on my shoulder and say her daughters life was ruined, Aaliyah’s life was never the same after that,” said DeRogatis.
The Village Voice’s story is lengthy and detailed with allegations that are at times indeed “stomach-churning.” Moreover it highlights the absurdity of an alleged sexual deviant and self-proclaimed “Pied Piper” continuing to croon the overtly sexual lyrics on his Black Panties album. To call it maddening is an understatement, so I’ll call it sick.
Several people have commented on the shocking story that’s gone viral, including Twitter user @Karnythia who claims she met R. Kelly when she was a 14-year-old growing up in Chicago. Karnythia says she initially saw Kelly hanging outside of Chicago’s Kenwood high school talking to teenaged girls when she was 12. A few years later he allegedly set his sights on her.
— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) December 16, 2013
R. Kelly sees us & comes over. He starts out talking to all of us. But after a while he focuses on me. I’m still young enough to be polite. — Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) December 16, 2013
Lookng back, if he had been someone else & if I hadn’t already seen the routine? I might have gone for it. But R. Kelly creeped me out. — Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) December 16, 2013
We had been joking around, singing & just being teenagers. So he compliments my voice. Y’all…I don’t sing pop well. At all. — Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) December 16, 2013
Even at 14 I knew that R. Kelly was a damned lie if he said I had a pretty voice. And I’d heard the rest of sales pitch in 88. — Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) December 16, 2013
She then added that Kelly and members of his entourage continued to try to coerce her and her friends to get into a car with them until the girls ran away.
We basically locked arms & pushed past them. One of the men touched my arm (I hate strangers touching me) so I basically ran. — Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) December 16, 2013
The shocking article in full complete with official court documents can be viewed here.
It should be noted that R. Kelly has responded to The Village Voice’s story. On Monday, Dec. 16, he told V-103’s Big Tigger that he was unfazed in a very interesting statement. According to Kelly, he’d rather not “stop and look back” lest he “get tackled.”
“I feel like I got the full ball and I’m running toward the touchdown. Stop and look back mess around and get tackled,” said Kelly.
“As you know when you get on top it’s very windy up there. You have to be spiritually a climber. I feel good about Black Panties. I got about 12 songs that are my favorite songs on Black Panties,” he added. “Everyone that doesn’t agree with it should listen to the last song on Black Panties [titled] ‘Shut Up,’ said Kelly.
Check out more Twitter reactions to The Village Voice’s R. Kelly story below. -danielle canada
