R Kelly now being criminally investigated in the wake of incriminating docu-series
American R&B singer R Kelly had an unpleasant birthday surprise on Tuesday as he turned 53 after it emerged that he is being criminally investigated following a documentary which detailed accounts of his alleged physical and emotional abuse of women.
And if that is not enough, his bad week got worse as two prominent Dallas radio stations banned his music.
As the fallout of Lifetime’s docu-series Surviving R. Kelly rumbles on, the urban-format stations KRNB and K104 confirmed in segments on-air that they will never again play R Kelly’s songs.
Georgia State through the Fulton County District Attorney Office said on Tuesday that they had opened a probe following the airing of the six-hour three-part of Surviving R. Kelly in the United States.
ABUSIVE CULT
The series has described the singer of running an “abusive cult” in which he is accused of holding women against their will.
According to US celebrity site TMZ, investigators have contacted several of those involved in the programme including Kelly’s ex-alleged sex slave Asante McGee and are currently trying to locate others who lived in his Atlanta home.
A number of women who appeared in the program accused Kelly of mental, physical and sexual abuse, though the artiste’s legal representatives countered that the docu-series contained false allegations, and suggested the subjects are defaming his client for personal gain.
According to US media, the DA’s office has been “flooded” with calls following the documentary.
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
The investigation comes six years after alleged sex tapes of the star with underage girls emerged.
Since the first major newspaper investigation by The Chicago Sun-Times into allegations of abuse by the singer in 2000, the Bump ‘n’ Grind singer has consistently denied that he has been violent and sexually coercive with women and young teenagers even as he has settled lawsuits, dating to the mid-1990s, with accusers.
In 2008 he was acquitted of child pornography charges despite videotape evidence that, prosecutors contended, showed him urinating on and having sex with a 14-year-old girl.