Photo by Prince Williams/WireImage
This story was updated Monday, July 17
After learning about the allegations of him running a sex cult and reportedly holding women against their will, R. Kelly has released a statement via his lawyer Linda Mensch.
According to Variety, “Mr. Robert Kelly is both alarmed and disturbed at the recent revelations attributed to him,” the statement reads. “Mr. Kelly unequivocally denies such allegations and will work diligently and forcibly to pursue his accusers and clear his name.”
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Just when you try and put R. Kelly‘s salacious past behind him, yet another allegation surfaces. This time the 50-year-old is accused of running a sex cult. Yes, a real life, functioning cult.
According to Buzzfeed, several parents and past employees say that Kelly is essentially holding young women hostage in his houses in Illinois and Georgia. Read an excerpt below from a parent accusing the R&B superstar of brainwashing her daughter.
“J. said that Robert “R.” Kelly, who turned 50 in January, met her daughter backstage at a concert in Atlanta earlier that month. Soon enough, he’d invited her to fly out to the Indio concert on his dime. J. said she’d heard about past sexual misconduct accusations against Kelly, but wasn’t overly worried. She is a fiercely devoted stage mom — she and her husband of 22 years, Tim, a car dealer, had moved from Memphis to Atlanta to help their eldest child’s career — and was confident she could protect her daughter.”
Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images
Allegedly the women are required to give up their personal cellphones and call Kelly “Daddy. ” In turn they eventually end up cutting off communication with all family members. Police in both states have done “welfare checks” and have found nothing illegal.
For absolute clarity, the age of consent varies by state. In Illinois it’s 17 and in Georgia its 16.
Buzzfeed also says “three of Kelly’s former employees, Cheryl Mack, Kitti Jones, and Asante McGee, provided details supporting the parents’ worst fears. They said six women live in properties rented by Kelly in Chicago and the Atlanta suburbs, and he controls every aspect of their lives: dictating what they eat, how they dress, when they bathe, when they sleep, and how they engage in sexual encounters that he records.”
There has been no word yet from Kelly on social media (the go-to for most celebrities when things go wrong). He is currently on his After Party Tour, which stopped in Merrillville, Indiana over the weekend. Watch below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWmACNXjVUh/?taken-by=rkelly&hl=en
TELL US: Fair or foul? Do the parents have a case?
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