Music

R. Kelly's response to horrific sexual assault allegations was totally weak

by Mark Teo

Advisory: This story contains graphic details about R. Kelly’s victims’ allegations.

Let’s get this out of the way first: R. Kelly’s Black Panties is an excellent album, and perhaps his best since TP2.com. We are not being ironic; indisputably, the Chicago R&B singer is at the top of his game. As his powerful croon takes centre stage on tracks like its debut single, “Cookie,” his explicit, often comedic lyrics provide the icing on the cake—Kelly’s music treads near-absurdist lines, and it’s allowed critics to detach his talent from his history. When it comes to Kelly’s actions—like, for example, his alleged pedophiliac tendencies—many have suspended their disbelief.

Until, of course, we chose to stop. Yesterday, the Village Voice posted a story that rehashed Kelly’s actions yet again—and it revived the debate around a man who, in media circles, has been at turns hailed a generational talent, a goofy ironist, and a predatory rapist.

The Village Voice, however, were clearer in tone: They interviewed Jim DeRogatis, a Chicago journalist tasked with covering the lawsuits launched against Kelly, and his view of the Trapped in the Closet singer wasn’t flattering. The interview goes beyond Kelly’s videotape, in which he’s alleged to pee on a teenager, and his marriage to a then-underaged Aaliyah—DeRogatis details how, according to court records, Kelly attended high-school choir classes and  was accused of raping (and videotaping) dozens of girls.

“They were stomach-churning,” DeRogatis said of the lawsuits, which involved girls as young as 14. Then, later: “[I’ve watched] the videotapes—and not just one videotape, numerous videotapes. And not Tommy Lee/Pam Anderson, Kardashian fun video. You watch the video for which he was indicted and there is the disembodied look of the rape victim. He orders her to call him Daddy. He urinates in her mouth and instructs her at great length on how to position herself to receive his ‘gift.’ It’s a rape that you’re watching. So we’re not talking about rock star misbehavior, which men or women can do.

“We’re talking about predatory behaviour.”

In the interview, DeRogatis touches on the shame—and attempted suicides—of many of Kelly’s victims. But he also touches on a much deeper point: That Kelly is preying on young black women, who he describes as society’s most marginalized group. The journalist has a point, too—Kelly’s lawsuits were settled out of courts, and while the stories of his victims drifted out of the public eye, Kelly’s star has only risen in the past decade.

“The saddest fact I’ve learned is: Nobody matters less to our society than young black women,” said DeRogatis. “Nobody.”

To his credit, Kelly has finally responded to the Village Voice story. In an interview with Big Tigger, Kelly addressed his critics.

“Well, you know, I feel like I got the football man, I’m running towards the touchdown and stopping and looking back, mess around, get tackled. And I also want my fans and everyone to know that I really appreciate everybody’s support from the very beginning of my career.

“But as you know, when you get on top of anything, it’s very windy up there. It’s not just about getting on top, it’s about holding your balance once you get up there. You have to be spiritually a climber. I feel good about Black Panties, I got about 12 songs that are about my favourite songs on Black Panties and as long as I got my fans screaming my name around the world and buying my records and supporting R. Kelly, man, everybody that doesn’t agree with it can listen to the last song on Black Panties. We having fun.”

The last song on Black Panties? “Shut up,” where he tells his critics to, um, shut up.

But that response simply isn’t enough. Telling his detractors that “it’s very windy up here” is akin to saying that “haters gonna hate.” The problem is, Kelly’s opponents, here, aren’t haters, nor are they hating—their allegations are more along the lines of, “sexual predators are gonna predate,” or “child molesters are going to molest children.”

Those are serious charges, and Kelly’s response isn’t doing any favours in clearing his name. Kelly’s admission that “we’re having fun” isn’t anything new for him—lest we forget, the “Ignition Remix” defended his actions with a glib, “so what, I’m drunk”—but typically, fun doesn’t result in, y’know, multiple lawsuits. 

R. Kelly: We love your music. We want to love you. We want to hope that, when you sing that you’ll “show your pussy how it works,” you’re speaking about your sexual prowess—not the sexual inexperience of a child. But before we get back to loving your music, Kells, you need to address this.