A comprehensive timeline of the R. Kelly allegations

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3rd Jun 2019

Since the six-part Lifetime documentary series Surviving R. Kelly aired in January this year, the sexual abuse allegations levelled against the R&B artist in the documentary have caused public outrage and calls for the R&B artist to answer for his alleged actions. Rumours have dogged the artist for many years and in 2002 he was arrested on 21 child pornography-related charges, of which he was acquitted at trial in 2008.

A number of high profile celebrities including Lady Gaga and John Legend have spoken out in support of the brave victims who claim on the documentary that the artist abused them, and have taken action by pulling their music collaborations with Robert Kelly from streaming services. Even model Cara Delevingne took the time to speak out on social media about the artist, joining the growing #MuteRKelly movement, which, in an open letter published on The Root by members of Time’s Up, asked a number of specific corporations and venues to cut ties with the artist.

Below, a guide of what you need to know about the allegations.

January 3 – 5, 2019: Lifetime airs the shocking six-part Surviving R. Kelly docuseries featuring multiple black women and their families accusing Kelly of sexual and physical abuse over many years, including imprisoning women in his homes without food for days at a time. Other details of the artist’s past are revealed in the documentary, such as the 21 child pornography charges issued against him in June 2002; his marriage in 1994 to a minor, artist Aaliyah, when she was just 15 (Aaliyah was tragically killed in a plane crash at 22); the restraining order his second wife, Andrea Kelly, filed against him in 2005; multiple out-of-court settlements paid to several women who have accused him of physical and sexual abuse.

Chance the Rapper issues a statement on Twitter apologising for working with Kelly to survivors and says he supports them.

January 8, 2019: TMZ reports a criminal investigation into Kelly opens in Georgia as a result of the claims aired on Surviving R. Kelly. According to the site, investigators reached out to several survivors featured on the documentary and issued a public plea for any more accusers to come forward. According to the , two more survivors come forward, contacting both their office and the Cook County State Attorney’s Office in Illinois. further reports that just hours after the two women came forward, over 30 people turned up to protest across the street from Kelly’s warehouse/studio in Chicago chanting “black girls matter.”

January 9, 2019: Grammy-winning artist Lady Gaga issues a statement supporting Kelly’s survivors and apologises for collaborating with him on her 2013 single, Do What U Want. The artist also announces she is working on having the single removed from all streaming platforms.

Chance the Rapper and Kelly’s collaboration, Somewhere in Paradise is taken off streaming services.

January 10, 2019: R. Kelly’s daughter, Buku Abi, speaks out against him. The Cut reports she shared a statement on her Instagram Story apologising to the victims: “I just want you all to understand that devastated is an understatement for what I feel currently. I do apologize if my silence to all that is happening comes off as careless.” She added that her father is a “monster” who she hasn’t seen in years.

January 11, 2019: Model Cara Delevingne speaks out in support of the survivors.

 

January 12, 2019: The Cut reports that police from Cook County responded to an anonymous tip that the artist was holding two women against their will, confronting Kelly at his Trump Tower Chicago apartment. The artist reportedly left them to question Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary, who were featured in the documentary. Savage’s parents said in the documentary their daughter has been “brainwashed” by Kelly, but per the report, the women told police they were “there of their own free will.”

January 14, 2019: Céline Dion pulls her collaboration with Kelly, 1998’s I’m Your Angel, from streaming services.

reports Kelly’s label, RCA/Sony, is refusing to produce any of Kelly’s new music.

reports two of R. Kelly’s accusers speak out: Lisa Van Allen and Faith Rodgers. Lisa Van Allen began a relationship with the artist when she was 17 and said on an episode of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook series that she felt ‘“blessed’ by the reaction to the documentary and the documentary she’s received.” Rodgers told media at a news conference that “Kelly threatened her over her participation” in the docuseries and also over a civil lawsuit she filed against him. Per , Kelly’s lawyers deny his client threatened her.

January 15, 2019: The Pussycat Dolls are reported to be working to pull their 2008 collaboration with Kelly, Out of This Club from streaming services. Ciara is also reported to be working to have her collaboration with Kelly, 2006’s Promise (Go and Get Your Tickets Mix), taken off streaming services.

January 16, 2019: reports officials searched Kelly’s studio in Chicago, it was apparently unrelated to the allegations put forward in the documentary, and had to do with “building code violations”. reports the officials found evidence the “space was being used for residential purposes and… [they] discovered work had been done inside without permits.” Per , a complaint will be filed against the artist for a future court hearing.

January 18, 2019: R. Kelly’s record company RCA, drops the artist. The New York Times reports the record label, one of the biggest in the industry, dropped the singer following the release of the documentary and pressure from both other artists in their stable and supporters of the #MuteRKelly movement. Per the article, there was no formal announcement, rather Kelly was simply deleted from the label’s website. 

February 5, 2019: Variety reports R. Kelly has announced he is planning a tour of Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Per Variety, no dates or venues were revealed just that a tour is “coming soon”.

February 14, 2019: CNN reports prosecutors investigating the artist are looking into a recently surfaced video featuring R. Kelly allegedly having sex with an underage girl. Per CNN, lawyer Michael Avenatti, who is representing “a man he calls a whistleblower against Kelly”, told the publication he handed the tape over last weekend to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.  He further shared that his “client knows the identity of the girl and R. Kelly. He identified the two of them on the videotape. He worked for and has known R. Kelly for decades and he met the girl on a number of occasions.” 

R. Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, told CNN he hasn’t, as yet, been advised of this new development.

February 22, 2019: The New York Times reports the R&B singer has been charged with 10 counts of “aggravated criminal sexual abuse” involving four victims, “three of whom were underage”. Per the publication, Kelly turned himself into Chicago police ahead of his bail hearing on Saturday, February 23.

February 25, 2019: CNN reports Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, pleaded not guilty on Kelly’s behalf to the charges and after initially not being able to post bail over the weekend, the rapper has posted the US$100,000 in bail and has subsequently been released from Chicago’s Cook County Jail.

March 5, 2019: Gayle King interviews R. Kelly for CBS This Morning. The rapper speaks publicly for the first time about the sexual abuse allegations and denies all wrongdoing. During the interview Kelly exploded, screaming at the camera and pounding his chest.

March 6, 2019: Kelly goes back into custody over failure to pay child support to his ex-wife and mother of his three children, Andrea Kelly.

March 9, 2019: Kelly is released from Chicago’s Cook County Jail after an anonymous “benefactor” paid the US$161,000 Kelly owed in child support.

March 22, 2019: Kelly is scheduled to return to court to face the 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

June 3, 2019: The New York Times reports new charges were filed against Kelly on Thursday, May 30, in Chicago. The rapper was charged with 11 new counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for incidents which allegedly took place “between 2009 and 2010”. 

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