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This doesn’t look good at all. Veteran music journalist Touré has been accused of workplace sexual harassment. Following his appearance on Lifetime’s six-hour, three-night event, Surviving R. Kelly, he sat down with Mouse Jones on The Club House to shed light on what he’s learned about R. Kelly over the years, including his reported repeated attempts at picking up underage girls at local Chicago high schools.
But it was Dani, a former make-up artist at Good Morning America, whose spoke out about Touré, alleging he continuously asked her to engage in anal sex in 2017. She told ESSENCE, “I worked with him most of 2017, I left in October, before he left,” she claims. After Dani quit, she says she reported Toure´ to human resources. He left Time after that; according to his rep because his agreement was over. He went on Hot97 to talk about Harvey Weinstein (after he apologized). I accepted his apology and was ok to move on but, you can’t be a sexual predator and go around shaming other predators. When I saw him going around as R. Kelly’s docuseries spokesman to different radio stations, the lies had to stop. I’ve worked with Mouse Jones before and wanted him to know the truth,” she said.
Touré has since apologized for his actions, saying, “On the show, our team, including myself, engaged in edgy, crass banter, that at the time I did not think was offensive for our tight-knit group. I am sorry for my language and for making her feel uncomfortable in any way. As a lead on the show, I should have refrained from this behavior. I have learned and grown from this experience.”
Although he’s interviewed legends including Tupac, Lady Gaga, JAY-Z and Nas, Touré is most known, to some, for his 2008 interview with Kelly, where he asked the singer point blank if he liked teenage girls.
Since the documentary, Omarion, Tank and Ne-Yo have spoken out against the 52-year-old. And while we’ve known Kelly suffered childhood molestation, we never knew the identity of the family member — until now. Yesterday Kelly’s younger brother Carey Kelly revealed they were both raped by their older sister Theresa.
TELL US: Should Touré have to do more than apologize?
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