R Kelly Scandal: Here's Everything You Need To Know About The Controversy And The Celebrities Involved

A documentary on R Kelly called Surviving R Kelly, produced by Dream Hampton, released earlier this year and has since then brought back the horrors of what R Kelly has done over the years. The documentary features many of Kelly's accusers, his brothers, his ex-wife and a few celebrities who worked with him including, John Legend and Tarana Burke. Over the years, R Kelly (Robert Sylvester Kelly) has been facing tremendous accusations regarding sexual abuse towards minors.

It all began after his secret marriage to 15-year-old Aaliyah Haughton. He was 28-years-old when he got married to Aaliyah and called her 18-year-old. As soon as her parents found out about the marriage, a long court proceeding took place and a year later, the marriage was annulled and Aaliyah later died in a tragic plane crash in 2001. In 1996, Kelly's then-girlfriend Tiffany Hawkins filed a suit against him for the "personal injuries and emotional distress" she suffered during their three-year relationship. In the documentary, Hawkins revealed that Kelly was 24 and she was 15 when they started their relationship. However, it ended by the time she turned 18.

In 2001, Kelly was sued by an intern, who claimed that the singer "induced her into an indecent sexual relationship". Tracy Sampson was 17 at the time and she stated that she was "treated as his personal sex object and cast aside". The case was settled outside the court for an undisclosed settlement sum. In 2002, he was sued twice, one by Patricia Jones who claimed that she was impregnated by him when she was underage and forced her to have an abortion.

Another case was by a woman named Montina Wood, who sued him for allegedly recording her having sex with him without her knowledge or consent. In the same year, Kelly was also charged with twenty-one counts of making illicit child pornography by seducing minors to participate, which involved intercourse, oral sex, urination and other sexual acts. He was bailed out by posting $750,000 bail amount and immediately denied all the child pornography charges. After a six-year-long trial, the jury concluded that the girl could not be proven to be a minor and hence, Kelly was found not guilty. The court further added that there wasn't enough evidence to justify and the police lacked appropriate proof against the artist.

In 2017, Buzzfeed did an exposé where they accused Kelly of confined six women in a "sex cult". The report further claimed that Kelly would seduce young women by giving them hopes about their music careers before he eventually controlled their lives. The truth about his sex control racket saw the light of the day after three former employees of the artist and the parents of the girls came up and stated how their daughters had gone missing. Once again, Kelly denied all the allegations and all the women confirmed that they were of legal age.

In 2018, After Buzzfeed's article, several of Kelly's victims came forward and spoke about the horrors they faced when they were involved with him. One of his victims, Jerhonda Pace came out in the open by breaking a non-disclosure agreement, to talk about her sexual relationship with Kelly that took place when she was underage. Another victim going by the name Kitti Jones claimed that Kelly starved her, forced her into sexual activities with other women and physically abused her. The campaign gained momentum and soon streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora agreed to drop all of Kelly's songs from their playlists.

On January 3, 2019, Lifetime released a six-part series called Surviving R. Kelly. The series consists of a dozen interviews with alleged survivors and members of the artist's inner circle. Celebrities like Lady Gaga, Jay Z, Erykah Badu, Questlove, Mary J. Blige, Lil’ Kim, and Celine Dion refused to be a part of the documentary. On the same, Hampton revealed, "We asked Lady Gaga. We asked Erykah Badu. We asked Celine Dion. We asked JAY-Z. We asked Dave Chappelle - people who have been critical of him."

John Legend was the biggest celebrity in the documentary and people lauded his courage. He tweeted, "To everyone telling me how courageous I am for appearing in the doc, it didn't feel risky at all. I believe these women and don't give a fuck about protecting a serial child rapist. Easy decision."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 16, 2019 09:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).