R. Kelly yells and cries during an interview with Gayle King.
In an explosive new interview, R. Kelly is breaking his silence about the sexual abuse charges that landed him in jail last month. The embattled R&B singer told @GayleKing that all the women now accusing him of physical and sexual abuse are lying. https://t.co/u4AENVsfAE pic.twitter.com/dVtVjc4Fx4
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 6, 2019
Last night, several clips from the interview were previewed after it had wrapped up, showing the singer crying and yelling uncontrollably at parts. He vehemently denies having sex with underage girls, noting that he’s “beaten his case” in the past so present rumours and future rumours should not be considered. “Everybody says something bad about me,” says Kelly in reference to the Surviving R. Kelly documentary. “Nobody said nothin’ good. They was describing Lucifer. I’m not Lucifer. I’m a man. I make mistakes, but I’m not a devil, and by no means am I a monster.” He claims that all of the accusers in the Lifetime documentary were lying on him.
He denies many times throughout his conversation with Gayle King that he has ever had sex with anybody under the age of 17, even saying that the parents of his accusers, Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary, “sold” their children to him.
Before that, though, he tells King that he is in a consensual relationship with both Savage and Clary. “They’re my girlfriends; we have a relationship; it’s real. I know guys who have five or six women, so don’t go there,” he says to King. As she continues to prod the topic, Kelly elaborates further on how he met the two girls and makes accusations of his own against their parents.
He claims to have met both young girls at one of his concerts, and that they were introduced strategically, by way of the parents. He also alleges that Clary’s parents wanted him to have sex with her when she was underage, but he did not.
“What kind of father, what kind of mother would sell their daughter to a man?” asks Kelly. “How come it was okay for me to see them until they wasn’t getting no money from it?” When King asks if Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary were “handed” to him by their parents, he responds, “Absolutely.”
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R Kelly looks animated and possibly being held back during Gayle King interview (from Gayle King’s Instagram) pic.twitter.com/7ump2jlbjL
— joey calamari (@JoeTacopino) March 6, 2019
At one point during the interview, R. Kelly actually needs to be physically restrained by an unidentified man off camera, possibly his publicist.
After he’s calmed down, Kelly emotionally tells King that he just has a really big heart: “I need help,” admitted the singer. “I need somebody to help me not have a big heart. My heart is so big that people keep playing me and I keep forgiving them.” King quickly responds that it appears as though he is playing the victim with this statement.
Read what attorney Michael Avenatti had to say about the case here. What are your thoughts after watching the interview?
In 2008, R. Kelly was found not guilty on 14 counts of child pornography after prosecutors failed to convince a jury that he was the man seen in a sex tape with a girl as young as 13.
Last month, he was indicted again, charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of 4 women. pic.twitter.com/GgotWiYXrP
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 6, 2019
“Stop it. You all quit playing! Quit playing! I didn’t do this stuff! This is not me! I’m fighting for my f***ing life! Y’all killing me with this sh*t!” @RKelly told @GayleKing, standing up. “I gave you 30 years of my f***ing career!”https://t.co/u4AENVJQsc pic.twitter.com/jLF7l8etYh
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 6, 2019
WATCH: R. Kelly addressed his current relationship with the two young women who live with him at his home in Chicago, 23-year-old Joycelyn Savage and 21-year-old Azriel Clary. Their parents believe Kelly has brainwashed their daughters.https://t.co/pPZcw2pbmc pic.twitter.com/IbH3PjbSVx
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 6, 2019
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