Advertisement
Advertisement
Fame and celebrity
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
File photo of US vocalist, songwriter and producer R. Kelly. Photo: Reuters

R. Kelly, Sony ‘split’ after sexual misconduct allegations resurface, says source

  • Singer has long been linked to controversies, but a recent documentary series shed new light on his alleged bad behaviour

R&B singer R. Kelly and Sony have parted ways, according to a person familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to a confidentiality agreement.

Details of the separation, first reported by Billboard, are scant. According to Variety, the label has no plans for an external announcement.

R. Kelly performing at the BET Awards in Los Angeles in 2013. Photo: AP

Kelly’s artist page has been removed from RCA’s website and now contains an “Error 404” message. According to Variety’s source, the singer’s back catalogue is still with RCA. Representatives for the label declined to comment.

The move came after increased scrutiny of Kelly’s behaviour and claims of sexual misconduct against the artist in a Lifetime channel documentary series that aired in early January. In the aftermath of Surviving R. Kelly, prosecutors in Chicago made a public plea for victims or witnesses to come forward so authorities could start an investigation.

Kelly has long denied the allegations, but the renewed attention has increased pressure on the musician’s label and past collaborators to denounce him. Lady Gaga and the band Phoenix are among those who apologised for having previously worked with the singer.

Kelly signed onto Jive Records in the 1990s. RCA, which is now under the Sony umbrella, absorbed Jive artists in 2011.

A protest led by social justice organisations UltraViolet and Color of Change took place on Wednesday outside Sony’s New York headquarters, with demonstrators holding signs with messages such as “RCA Drop Kelly!” and “Black Girls Matter”.

Protesters outside Sony’s headquarters in New York on January 16, 2019. Photo: AP

Kelly, who at 27 married his 15-year-old protégé, Aaliyah, has faced years of sexual misconduct allegations, including claims that he had relations with underage girls. He was tried on child pornography charges in 2008, six years after Jim DeRogatis, at the time a music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, was mailed a sex tape he turned over to authorities. More than a dozen witnesses identified the person in the video as an underage girl, but neither she nor her parents testified. Kelly was acquitted on all counts.

In 2017, DeRogatis reported on parents’ claims that the singer had brainwashed their daughters and was keeping them in an abusive “cult”, allegations which once again brought public attention to the singer’s alleged behaviour. One of the women, in an interview with TMZ, said she was with Kelly willingly. The #MuteRKelly movement, a grass roots campaign calling for boycotts of Kelly’s music, kicked off that year.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: R. Kelly and Sony ‘split’ amid claims of abuse
Post