R. Kellyfaces yet another accusation of sexual abuse, this time from a woman who claims that the singer“willfully, deliberately and maliciously”infected her with herpes.
According to Rodgers’ filing, she and Kelly first became involved in March 2017 following a performance in San Antonio, not far from the Texas native’s residence.
This led to several months of back and forth telephone contact, culminating that May when Kelly flew her to attend his concert in New York City. It was during this trip that she claims to have received a 6 a.m. phone call from Kelly, summoning her to his hotel room.She tells the BBCin an interview that she duly complied, only to find him acting “really aggressive” towards her, ordering her to undress and making unwanted sexual advances.
“I told him that I wasn’t ready for sex, that I don’t engage in sex the first time I meet somebody — that’s not who I am, that’s not what I’m comfortable with,” Rodgers said to the outlet.
After he initially backed away, she claims in the interview that he started touching her in a suggestive manner, and once again began making sexual overtures. This time, she wordlessly submitted. “I didn’t really say anything. I kinda just froze up,” shetold CBS News. “I definitely was uncomfortable. But he has this type of, like, intimidation right off the bat. You know? So I was just waiting for it to be over.”
CBS; Getty
Throughout the encounter, Rodgers claims to the BBC that Kelly said “nasty [and] degrading things” to her, referring to himself as “Daddy” and she “his little doll.” In her suit, she described the alleged contact as “non-permissive, painful and abusive sex.”
“Defendant, R. Kelly, locked Plaintiff in secluded areas including rooms, studios and motor vehicles, for extended periods of time in order to punish Plaintiff for failing to please Defendant sexually and/or for perceived offenses and violations of his prescribed code of conduct,” the suit states.
She goes on in the complaint to allege that Kelly never divulged the fact that he had herpes, and she found out only after discovering she had contracted the disease herself.
“I was devastated,” she said in her BBC interview. “I was embarrassed; it’s not something that’s going to go away. The hardest part was coming clean to my family about everything…I blame myself a lot.”
Accusations of sexual misconduct have followed Kelly for years, and aBBC Three documentary, released in late March, explored Kelly’s alleged behavior with an interview from Kelly’s ex-girlfriend Kitti Jones claiming that she was “physically, mentally, verbally, and sexually” abused.
In a previous statement to PEOPLE, a former rep for Kelly denied allegations Jones made in aRolling Stonearticle from October 2017. Kelly also dismissed a BuzzFeed story titled “R. Kelly Is Holding Women Against Their Will in a ‘Cult,’ Parents Told Police,” calling the claims “a bunch of crap” on social media in July.
Histhen-attorney Linda Mensch also denied the allegationsin a statement to PEOPLE, saying, “Mr. Robert Kelly is both alarmed and disturbed at the recent revelations attributed to him. Mr. Kelly unequivocally denies such allegations and will work diligently and forcibly to pursue his accusers and clear his name.”
In early April, several key members of Kelly’s organization, including Mensch, publicist Trevian Kutti, and executive assistant Diana Copeland, all announced that they have severed ties with the singer.
Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic
Kelly’s management responded to the movement in astatement issued to PEOPLE. The strongly worded message rejects the criminal accusations leveled at the singer, and characterizes the campaign as the “lynching of a black man who has made extraordinary contributions to our culture.” It goes on to state that Kelly is “the target of a greedy, conscious and malicious conspiracy to demean him, his family and the women with whom he spends his time.”
The #MuteRKelly movement won a major victory on May 10 whenSpotify took a public stand against the singer.
As part of their newpublic hate content and hateful conduct policy, the streaming service has eliminated the R&B singer’s songs from all official playlists.
“We are removing R. Kelly’s musicfrom all Spotify owned and operated playlists and algorithmic recommendations such as Discover Weekly,” Spotify toldBillboardin a statement.
“His music will still be available on the service, but Spotify will not actively promote it,” Spotify continued, adding that while they “don’t censor content because of an artist’s or creator’s behavior…we want our editorial decisions — what we choose to program — to reflect our values.”
The statement continues, “Spotify promotes numerous other artists who are convicted felons, others who have been arrested on charges of domestic violence and artists who sing lyrics that are violent and anti-women in nature. Mr. Kelly falls into none of these categories, and it is unfortunate and shortsighted that Spotify fails to recognize this.”
source: people.com
