If you read journalist Jim DeRogatis' R. Kelly report Monday in Buzzfeed — and more than 2 million people did so far — take a moment to read some of the follow-up pieces that hold Hollywood accountable for turning a blind eye to the singer's sexual past.
Kelly was acquitted of child pornography charges in 2008. Now former members of Kelly's inner circle and relatives of a young woman accuse Kelly of holding six young women in an abusive cult at properties rented by him in Chicago and the Atlanta suburbs. The relatives and former associates allege that Kelly controls who the women can contact, when and how they satisfy him sexually, how they dress and what they eat, and punishes them physically if they disobey him.
Kelly, through an attorney, denied the claims Monday and promised to forcibly "pursue his accusers." One of the women, now 21, spoke to TMZ on Monday and released a video saying she is not being held against her will. At a news conference held after the Buzzfeed story broke, the woman's mother said her daughter has been "brainwashed" by Kelly.
It's easy to feel outraged by the allegations after reading the fruits of DeRogatis' nine months of labor on the story. Now it's essential to understand that the abuse is, if true, partly the result of the cult of personality we create around celebrities.
"When the only criticism from Hollywood is a parody song of Kelly (played by Dave Chappelle) gleefully singing about peeing on girls on 'Chappelle's Show,' or a foul joke [by comedian Julie Klausner's character] about Kelly pissing on Blue Ivy in 'Difficult People,' you realize that Kelly's disturbing antics are never treated with the severity that they should, and that the industry has offered up his serial abuse of young girls as a punch line, and not something worthy of condemnation," writes Ira Madison III in the Daily Beast.
Kelly has a seriously sketchy sexual past (spelled out in this Spin timeline if you're interested) that includes marriage to a 15-year-old girl and multiple sexual misconduct lawsuits involving underage girls.
And yet …
There he was headlining Pitchfork in 2013 and R&B festival Soulquarius in February. There he was on "The Tonight Show" in 2015, performing a medley of hits. Numerous artists have continued to collaborate with him.
"Why does Lady Gaga, who champions sexual empowerment for women and gay rights, record with him in 2013 a big hit single, film a video that she later killed after people began writing about Kelly again?" DeRogatis said in a Slate interview Monday. "But she appears with him on 'Saturday Night Live' and (on the American Music Awards) pretends to fellate him at the desk of the Oval Office in a twisted sort of Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton skit. … The history's out there, the reporting's out there, and people should be aware of it."
Gaga is an easy target, Daily Beast's Madison writes.
"But let's also not forget … Kelly was featured on singles by Justin Bieber, Jennifer Hudson, Kid Ink, and fellow Chicagoan Chance the Rapper," Madison writes. "His 2015 album 'The Buffet' also featured guest appearances from Ty Dolla Sign, Lil Wayne, Jeremih, Jhené Aiko, and Tinashe."
Will anything change after DeRogatis' story?
"As of a couple years ago, Kelly was still singing medleys of his songs on 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,'" Madison writes. "So this week, when white male late-night hosts take to their podiums to rant to the choir about how we elected a president who bragged about sexual assault, will they also take the time to address Kelly's sexual predation? Or will they just make a few piss jokes?"
In a 2013 interview with The Village Voice — also essential reading in light of Monday's story — DeRogatis had this to say:
"The saddest fact I've learned is: Nobody matters less to our society than young black women. Nobody."
I wish there was a different conclusion to draw from all of this, but I can't think of one.
hstevens@chicagotribune.com
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