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State Attorney calls for alleged R Kelly victims to come forward
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 9 January 2019
The State Attorney of Cook County, Illinois has urged alleged victims of abuse by R Kelly to come forward in order to build a criminal case against the musician. The county contains Kelly’s hometown of Chicago, where many of the allegations against him are said to have taken place.
The call by State Attorney Kim Foxx follows the recently aired six-part documentary series ‘Surviving R Kelly’, which was broadcast on US TV last week.
The programme featured a number of women who claim to have been abused by Kelly, and the family of another woman who, they allege, is currently being held in a ‘sex cult’ by the star. Friends of Kelly as well as family members, former business partners and celebrities – including John Legend and Chance The Rapper – also contributed to the series.
Despite the recent swell in the number of new allegations made against the singer, only one has resulted in legal action, and so far no new criminal proceedings have been brought against him. Allegations of physical and mental abuse have followed Kelly throughout his career and he has settled many civil cases out of court. Though the one time he was put on trial to face criminal charges relating to abuse allegations he was acquitted.
It has been reported that, following the show’s broadcast, there was a spike in people contacting law enforcement authorities demanding that something be done.
“We cannot do anything related to these allegations without the co-operation of these victims”, said Foxx in a press conference yesterday. “I am here today to encourage victims of sexual assault or domestic violence related to these allegations to please get in touch with our office. Please come forward”.
Saying that her team is currently “in the process of trying to get information”, Foxx said that they have already spoken to Chicago police and a number of families, adding: “I was sickened by the allegations. I was sickened as a survivor, I was sickened as a mother, I was sickened as a prosecutor”.
Kelly’s stance on the increasing number of new allegations being made against him over the last year has always been that certain people have a vendetta against him and that the women who have made the allegations are all hoping to become famous. In a new interview with NBC5 yesterday, his attorney, Steven Greenburg, held to that line.
Greenberg said that Foxx’s call for possible victims to come forward was “unprecedented”, and that he was sure that his client would be exonerated.
“There’s not gonna be any physical evidence, no confirmatory evidence”, he said. “[Kelly’s accusers] want fifteen minutes of fame and [Foxx is] encouraging that. People know how to call the cops. People call 911. Nobody’s done that because nothing has happened”.
Sources who spoke to TMZ following the airing of ‘Surviving R Kelly’ said that the singer was “disgusted” by the show and planned to “sue everybody” involved in it. Meanwhile, the family of the woman still involved with Kelly also reported that they had been threatened by his manager prior to the first episode of the programme being broadcast.
While Spotify reported a spike in streams of Kelly’s music after the first episode of the series went out, some US radio stations are now banning his music from their programming. Morning show presenter on Dallas station KRNB, Claudia Jordan, said – according to Complex – that “in good conscience, we just can’t continue to support this guy”.
Meanwhile her counterpart on another Dallas station, K104, DeDe McGuire, said: “I’m glad that radio is taking that stance. Radio has always played a major role in the black community… That goes back to the civil rights movement. We have to take care of our own. If the courts won’t take care of him in terms of punishing him, then we’ll stop playing his music as punishment”.
