In the interview last week with CBS This Morning host Gayle King, we got the first unbiased look at R. Kelly since the artist was charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of four women — three of them underage girls — but the whole ordeal left a sour taste behind.
Accused of dominating and manipulating women, Kelly defended his case by interrupting, yelling and talking overtop of King. He denied that any of the allegations are true — in a true respected fashion of screaming and throwing a tantrum like a child.
In all of the vast history of Kelly being linked with abuse towards women, and most incredibly, of the nearly 50 people who said they witnessed Kelly have sex with or abuse underage girls, he said, well, “They are all lying.” How he can say he’s a fully innocent man when there are two sex tapes, dozens of women testifying against him and nearly 50 witnesses is appalling — to say the least.
Giving the performance of his life, Kelly couldn’t give a straight answer when asked if he could confidently say he’d never been with underage girls — a simple task for an innocent man. He referenced “two cases” in his past that he could not talk about for legal reasons, but then in a different part of the interview he denied ever sleeping with anyone under 17. It was his own sloppiness in contradicting himself that left a smirk on my face — like a rabbit watching the hunter step into his own trap.
What really left a deep and bitter bite is that when King suggested he had a thing for women much younger than him, Kelly replied, “I don’t look at ‘much younger than me,’” before the line that is hard to imagine an accused pedophile’s PR team would ever approve of: “I just look at ‘legal.’”Disgusting is too kind of a word for his reply.
He faulted everyone but himself for the situation he finds himself in now. He stated that the women who only wanted money or fame from him are lying, the victim’s parents were fine with him around their daughters until he stopped giving them money, and that people on social media have spread lies about him.
Kelly is so caught up with being ‘innocent’ that the man has dug himself into a hole that I would hope finally buries his career once and for all. It won’t though, because while his reputation took a blow, his music is skyrocketing on streaming services.
Hopefully, after the possible release of a third sex tape (not that we need a third), the doubt that R. Kelly isn’t a pedophine and abuser fades and his true colours can shine through — in prison.
