While sinking singer R. Kelly shuffles between his current confinement in Chicago and a future date to answer state and federal sex crime charges in New York City, the Lifetime channel has announced yet another follow-up to its explosive documentary “Surviving R. Kelly.”
Lifetime has already been nominated for a gang of industry awards as a result of the Jan. 3 docu-series that accomplished what decades of media investigations and police probes were unable to do: help secure indictments against the superstar singer, songwriter and producer. The nominations include an Emmy for “Best Informational Series or Special.”
Pop culture may look at this as an attempt to reap further dividends from the enormous cachet Lifetime accrued for the original “Surviving R. Kelly” series that took the channel to the next level.
The announcement of the third special on the 52-year-old Robert Sylvester Kelly was made by Robert Sharenow during the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills. Sharenow, the president of the A&E Network, said the upcoming project will be titled “Surviving R. Kelly: The Aftermath” and will be a four-part documentary.
The Lifetime channel ran the first sequel, “Surviving R. Kelly: The Impact,” back in April, which explored the aftermath of the original six-part series that aired at beginning of the year.
As rolling out reported previously, R. Kelly was arrested and indicted in early July 2019 on 13 federal sex crimes, ranging from violations of the Mann Act to racketeering. He is already indicted in Cook County in Chicago on 10 state charges of felony sexual abuse and having sexual relations with underage girls.
