Original subtitles

There is a difference between R. Kelly and Robert.

R. Kelly is this fun, laughing, loving guy.

(echoing): But Robert is the devil.

She fell in love with someone that is a predator.

It's heartbreaking.

This man is a monster. That's what he is.

I'm gonna call the police

and tell them you kidnapped my sister.

This can't keep going on.

You need to see the effects of your behavior.

He's proving that he's never going to take responsibility

for his actions.

That's a predator that's telling y'all,

"I'm-a get these girls to do what I want 'em to do

when I want 'em to do."

And so we decided to protest.

He needs to worry about righting his wrongs. Period.

I hope Robert is trying

to get his sense together.

Whatever's in the dark will come to light.

Time's up for R. Kelly.

♪ ♪

(cheering)

R&B singer R. Kelly is denying claims

he's keeping a household of young women

in a cultlike atmosphere.

My name is Timothy Savage.

Stockholm syndrome.

That's what my daughter has right now.

Never been feeling hostage or anything like that.

TIMOTHY: It's been almost two years.

We still haven't seen our daughter.

REPORTER: Hey, Joycelyn.

When I saw the TMZ video,

I looked over, and it was my daughter, Dominique.

I just put two and two together.

I ain't leaving this damn hotel.

I did came too damn close. I'm this far.

KANIKA "KITTI" JONES: He beat me in the car,

and he was slapping me repeatedly.

And I just started thinking of ways to, like,

end my life or end his.

(crying)

Come on, we're leaving.

(woman crying)

(vocalizing)

ALICE CLARY: Our daughter met R. Kelly

at a concert in Orlando.

ANGELO CLARY: R. Kelly picked my daughter, Azriel,

to go up on stage.

I knew his background,

but I'm right here with her. Her mom right here.

None of this could happen to me.

ALICE: One day we get a phone call.

"Oh, I'm at a hotel with R. Kelly."

R. Kelly expresses interest in working with Azriel

to possibly further her music career.

And, um, he wanted to be her mentor.

Honestly, I didn't think

it was a good fit.

Uh, I didn't want to have any part of it,

but Azriel pressed us.

She made threats

if we didn't, you know, let her do this.

We told her, like, basically,

for you to do anything else with him,

she could not be with him by herself.

She was flying back and forth, um,

to different cities, but one of us was always in attendance.

Either myself, my husband, my son

or my oldest daughter, A'Iceis.

A'ICEIS: Azriel and I arranged

for me to go to Chicago,

and I was supposed to stay for about a month or two.

But when I got out there, it wasn't what

Azriel made it to be. Nor him, R. Kelly.

Some driver picked me up.

We went to the studio,

and we sitting in there, and he making music.

And he spoke to me. "Hey, A'Iceis."

You know, it was cool at first.

But Azriel made it to be like she could go places,

she could do things.

We couldn't do nothing.

She couldn't walk out the room without calling R. Kelly.

It was all about what R. Kelly wanted.

Finally, I went and walked out to go get me something to eat.

She was just like, "You can't.

You have to come back. R. Kelly's gonna get us."

"Get us? No, he's not gonna get us,

'cause I'm a grown-ass woman."

She was like, "No, you just have to call him

and let him know where you're going."

I'm not finna keep picking up the (bleep) phone

and calling R. Kelly. He ain't my daddy.

My daddy's in Florida.

When I woke up in the morning, she wasn't there.

So I was like, "Okay, he must have came and got her."

I was calling Azriel. No answer.

Well, I know where their studio is.

I walk to the studio, and, um, I walked in.

R. Kelly's nephew was there.

He said, "Oh, they left."

And I was like, "They left?" He was like, "Yeah."

And I was like, "Why? You know, where's my sister?

"Like, I-I don't know why would he be leaving

with my sister. I'm here."

So I started yelling, and I started cussing.

I was like, "Somebody need to bring my sister out here."

And my sister came out, and she was like,

"What's wrong? What's going on?"

I was like, "We're leaving.

Like, we're lea-- Let's go."

I started dragging my sister out of the studio.

And then R. Kelly's pulling my sister, too,

and I'm pulling her, too. I'm telling R. Kelly,

"I'm gonna call the police and tell them

you kidnapped my sister. Period."

R. Kelly told his security to make me disappear.

They pinned me down, carried me out.

They pulled up in the back of an alley at McDonald's.

I was shoved out.

Didn't know where I was. They was like,

"If you say anything,

"your sister won't make it out alive.

Or your family."

My daughter A'Iceis called, uh, back home.

She was like, "No, Azriel,

she want to be up here, but we need to leave."

My parents, they had to get me another room

'cause I told them I didn't feel safe,

but they didn't know what was going on

because they said, "Don't mention anything about it,

or your sister won't make it out alive."

Had happened, no. I didn't tell them.

ALICE: The phone call took me aback,

like something happened.

So me and him flew up the next day.

ANGELO: Once we flew to Chicago, we, uh, talked to R. Kelly,

and he explained everything that was going on.

It wasn't like, uh, our oldest daughter, A'Iceis, thought.

Azriel assured us, "Dad, it wasn't like that.

I promise you."

Even A'Iceis downplayed it once we got there,

like, "It wasn't that serious.

Maybe I just was over the top with it."

Okay, maybe this, you know.

My daughter overreacted, you know.

We all got eyes on him now,

so we feeling safe that she there.

ALICE: At this point, Azriel was getting ready

to start her senior year in school.

ANGELO: Before we left Chicago,

he mentioned that Azriel would need

to f-fully commit so that he can hurry up

and get something done for her,

but he was gonna do it as he's touring.

And I told him that she can't go

without having somebody with her.

So if somebody could be with her, we fine.

ALICE: So R. Kelly said that he would

-actually have someone from the record label... -From the label.

...be a guardian over her,

um, that we could talk to

to make sure she's, you know, doing her schooling,

that whenever she needed to get home for something

she would get home, whatever the case may be.

It would be a female.

So, um, that's what we had agreed to.

And we actually signed it.

We were on the phone with him,

at this point, on a regular basis,

so we felt-- seemed like everything was okay,

um, at that point.

It seems that part of what he was selling is,

"I'm a star, and I can make you a star."

If you know the story of the Pied Piper,

the Pied Piper was a... was a musician,

you know, who led a bunch of kids out of a village

via music never to be seen again.

And I just thought that was insane.

You know, I think that was his middle finger to the law.

'Cause he was like, "Yeah, I'm untouchable."

Instead of calling himself the Teflon Don,

he called himself the Pied Piper.

And, you know, from what we see, he-he hasn't stopped

leading, uh, young girls out of villages

via music ever since.

DR. CANDICE NORCOTT: So, you work really hard to be seen

as this benevolent public figure,

but in your private life,

there are these things that you're doing

that you don't want the public to know.

So, that tension can create conflict within a person

that can then look like anger outbursts.

Somebody can be really relaxed and happy.

Somebody can be really angry one minute.

And so that's how I kind of best understand that...

you know, people saying, "Well, there are many different sides

of this person, and I'm... we're not sure what we're gonna get."

Yo, what's up, you guys? It's your boy, Kells, man.

I just wanted to break some things down

and talk to you guys, just to clear some things up.

I've been getting a lot of slack from, you know, people

about, you know, um, my album

or, you know, my career and things like that.

Real talk.

We have got to support each other, man.

Quit playing, you know what I'm saying?

I've done all of the shows there is to do.

I've, you know, I've done all this promotion,

and my company's not getting behind this album,

The Buffet album. You know, um...

But I tell you, you know, none of that, to me, matters.

None of that matters, you know, because at the end of the day,

it's really about us coming together.

(distorted): He did the Huffington Post interview,

and the interviewer asked him questions about the girls.

And he, um, did not want to answer the questions.

Would you say that you have a healthy relationship with sex

and that that is reflected musically?

I would have to say this:

I did not come here to get interrogated.

I didn't come here for a deposition.

You know what a deposition is?

-I'm very aware of what a deposition is. -Well, then...

-I'm asking you about your music. -You should, then,

you should agree with me when, when...

-I asked about your music. -...when I say that this sounds

sort of like a deposition.

What do you say

to the multiple fans,

the many fans who are watching and listening

-that say there have been... -I say I love my fans.

-...multiple accusations against you... -I say I love my fans.

-against young women in Chicago, -I say I love all of my fans.

and they are concerned

-about your past, -People that are against me.

-and that's impacting them -People that are with me.

-from purchasing your music sales? -I love them all.

I love them all. It doesn't matter who they are,

if they hate me, they love me,

they want to destroy me, whatever.

I love them all. And I love you, too.

You don't need to give me

-any of your love, sir. -I love everybody.

You really don't need to give me your love. I just wanted

to ask the question. I have a video question for you

-from a fan if you... -No video questions for me,

-'cause this interview is over. -Okay.

-Thank you very much for coming... -All right.

FORMER EMPLOYEE: And so, he was very upset

about that interview.

He just wanted to vent.

He was blaming different people on staff

about the way the interview turned out.

That was a time that he actually wanted to know

what was being said online about the interview.

R. Kelly can read,

but he has difficulties reading certain words,

and of course no one would tell him the truth.

I was one of the people who lied to him

about what was being said online.

ALICE: December 30, Azriel turned 18.

And that is when all hell broke loose.

ANGELO: Her phone was going straight to voice mail.

ALICE: Everything changed,

and we stopped hearing from her.

At that point, she's 18. She can do what she want.

I can't make her go anywhere.

So, my daughter A'Iceis

finally told us the truth.

ALICE: We talked to her.

Like, this came out months later.

And she was crying. She was very upset and distraught.

She was telling us about the incident at the studio

when she was going through the different rooms

looking for, uh, Azriel.

She knocked on every one of the doors.

She said there was girls and stuff in other rooms,

but, like, they couldn't talk. They wouldn't say anything.

She noticed buckets in the corner of every room,

and she said that it looked like

they were using the buckets to use the bathroom in.

A'ICEIS: I was like,

why would you go from being able to use your own bathroom

to going in a room where you have to pee in a corner?

You have to pee in a pitcher.

And then got to, whenever he tells you,

you can go and dump the piss, you can go dump it.

PRODUCER: Why do you think

your daughter, A'Iceis, changed her story?

-It was because he had threatened... -ANGELO: Yeah.

He had threatened her and us, and...

You know, he could make it bad for your family, and, yeah,

maybe your mom and your father and this and that.

So I could see her taking that into consideration

and think she's looking out for us,

you know, saving her parents.

But I wish she wouldn't have. I wish she would've

told me right then and there, you know?

A'ICEIS: So, Azriel was with him.

ANGELO: You know, we're a very close-knit family.

Very. We're very open,

so she could've talked to us about anything, so for her

to leave her family was mind-blowing for us.

ALICE: I called the number that I had for her

three or four times a day.

I don't get an answer,

don't get a reply. I text.

When you have a child that's lost and passed away,

you know, you know they're gone,

like, you're never gonna see them again,

but this is a little bit different,

because I know she's somewhere.

It's just that he won't allow her to talk to me.

She fell in love with someone that is a predator.

It's heartbreaking.

(crying)

ALICE: The last time that we saw Azriel was at her graduation

from high school in 2016.

After Azriel turned 18,

we started having all kinds of people from social media,

just from everywhere, reaching out to us, anonymously,

saying, um, you know, all this was going on with our daughter,

and that we needed to get her away from him.

Okay, why you didn't tell us that when she was 17?

And so, this anonymous person

actually put us in touch with the Savages.

One of their daughters, Joycelyn, who was 19

at the time when she met R. Kelly,

is also one of the young ladies

that is with R. Kelly in his sex cult.

ANGELO: To meet Tim and his wife--

that was a kind of relief as a parent, to finally

meet somebody who actually has gone through

what we're going through, because all the people

that was around us, they could say, "Oh, we understand."

You don't understand.

Nobody could ever understand what it feels like

to have a child that's living and breathing,

and you can't see 'em.

TIMOTHY: I had word that Joycelyn was

at the Atlanta house in Johns Creek.

And we wanted to do a wellness check.

(distorted): So, a wellness check

is when you can call the police

to check on someone that you have not had contact with,

and you're concerned about the person's well-being.

We're in front of R. Kelly's house.

We're trying to check on our daughter, Joycelyn Savage.

Make sure my sister, Joycelyn Savage, is okay.

And, uh, we're gonna do what we have to do

to make sure my daughter...

No bruises, no nothing on her body.

We just want to make sure she's fine.

If she won't come to us at the concert, we're gonna go to her.

We're gonna make sure that we see her.

There's about four, five police cars here already.

At that time, um, she wasn't there.

Uh, we talked to the police department,

did a writ... written statement, me and my wife.

ALICE: The Savages hadn't talked to their daughter, either,

for a while, so, they were like,

"Let's get together to try to do whatever we could

"to get our girls home,

"and to help other young ladies so they won't fall victim.

Let's see if we can get Chicago to do a wellness check."

I was told about the wellness checks being done at

the house in Atlanta, as well as the studio in Chicago.

R. Kelly knew about the wellness check

in Chicago before it happened, because he has friends

in the police department in Chicago who warned them.

The police officer went and talked to the girls.

He told the Savages about their daughter,

and then he told us about our daughter.

Um, he basically said

both of the girls were okay, they looked healthy,

but at the end of the day, that doesn't mean anything.

My daughter is still not home with me.

My daughter is being mistreated.

We really want to know what is he hiding?

What are you really hiding?

Why won't you let us see our daughter?

Throughout this whole process, um,

initially, I had told you, we had people come out

anonymously and tell us that, you know, what was going on

with Azriel once she turned 18.

We have people coming back, other young ladies,

that's telling us stuff. I mean, this is crazy.

This man is a monster. That's what he is.

BURKE: I remember reading about the Savages and

the Clarys and their desperation to get their daughters home.

And while I wasn't surprised, I was surprised.

We've seen such a progression from the...

from the very first allegations

we heard of, of him picking up young girls

and having sex with them,

to now.

He's still engaging in this behavior,

but it feels like he's being more clever

about the ways that he, um,

preys on this community of girls.

Getting girls who are right over the age

so people can't technically say

that you're with an underage girl.

FORMER EMPLOYEE: The house in Atlanta,

the main house, is the house where he stays, and the girls

lived in the house, as well.

In the house,

Azriel kind of had precedence over the other girls

when it came to where he slept at night, or whatever

he considered his night.

That's the room he would sleep in.

She's the girl he would go to bed with.

In the beginning, Joycelyn was back and forth to school.

The trainer was a girl that lived in the house.

She had been there the longest.

She's the girl he really trusts.

Her responsibility was to train all the girls who he brought in.

Any girl that R. Kelly slept with,

she slept with them, as well.

He has a certain type of woman or girl that he will bring

into the house to live, but as far as a woman

that he would just mess around with--

he don't really have a type.

Before the girls even become a permanent fixture in the house,

he gets a feel of where they are mentally.

If he meets a woman and then finds out she has it going on,

then that's the girl who's just gonna come and go.

If the girl seems like she's weak,

she don't really have the family's support,

or no one's gonna come asking questions,

or he's even able to manipulate the family--

that's the girl he's gonna bring into the house.

The girls who are in the house are girls who are

just totally dependent on him.

ASANTE: He'd go for the younger girls

because they are weak-minded,

but if you're older, and he feels like you're weak-minded,

he's gonna go for you, too.

It doesn't matter if you're 16 or if you're 40.

If you can contr... If he could control you,

that's all he wants.

I was that die-hard fan.

If you said anything bad about him,

I would put you out of my house.

I would, like...

I would just stop all communication.

When I first met R. Kelly, I was just shell-shocked.

I was, like, really nervous,

and, like, he was just real friendly,

just, you know, talking openly.

Laughing, telling jokes, and I'd laugh.

R. Kelly and I started dating.

Officially, for us, it was 2014.

It-it was really like a high for me, because I...

'cause, again, it's R. Kelly.

(chuckling): So it was like, I'm engaging in conversation,

texting with R. Kelly.

In the beginning,

he gave me some of the rules, but not all of the rules.

He pretty much let me know that he had other girls.

I had to accept it. If I couldn't accept it,

then there's no need for us to even try anything.

At the time, knowing that

I was not the only woman in his life--

I was okay with it because

I felt like he was honest.

I was married before,

and my husband-- he was abusive,

as well as he was a cheater.

And I respected the fact

that R. Kelly was honest to let me know

that "it's not just you that I'm seeing."

So, it was just like a dream come true, and it was like

I was willing to do anything to please him.

When we started becoming intimate,

I was living in my home in Atlanta,

and he was living in his home in Chicago.

I would travel back and forth to Chicago,

or whatever city he was at, as far as the tour.

And then, he was also coming

to Atlanta a lot, as well, because

he was using someone's studio and playing basketball.

And so, I was with him

when he was in Atlanta.

As a fly-in, it was normal life.

Just me and him, two consensual adults having sex.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

Two years within our relationship,

I started seeing the changes

when he invited me to move into his house.

The way he invited me...

Well, he didn't invite me. He told me.

I went to his tour in Houston, Texas,

and I'm thinking I'm about to fly home, and I was told

by one of his assistants, "You need to go get your clothes,

"'cause you're gonna end up

in the next city without any clothes."

I was like, "Huh? What do you mean?"

So, I got my suitcase and got on the bus.

And we ended up in Atlanta at his house, in Johns Creek.

He said, "Welcome home, my babies."

And he opened the door,

and I'm like, "Welcome home?"

So he gave us a tour of his house,

showed me my bedroom, shows us all our bedrooms.

And he told, you know,

us to go ahead and go in your room, put your clothes up.

I didn't start ha-having to ask R. Kelly for permission for--

to eat and stuff until he actually moved me in the house.

(door squeaks open)

It was just like a nightmare.

FORMER EMPLOYEE: Robert has to strategically

spread his money out and pay certain bills,

uh, because he's lost money.

He don't have the income coming in like he has previously,

so he did get evicted from the house in Atlanta.

ASANTE: Just being here

and just seeing this door is about to bring back

a whole bunch of memories

that I never thought I had to revisit.

(door creaks open)

Wow.

This looks totally different

from when... the last time I was here.

So, upstairs is where all of the bedrooms are,

other than his bedroom.

Right here,

this is my bedroom right here.

I don't think I want to go in there.

I'm gonna just show you guys the other bedrooms.

In my opinion,

I feel like this is the wickedest part.

The whole room was black.

He had black curtains.

He had, basically-- Furniture was black.

And right here in the middle was the actual bed.

And I just really feel like...

this room right here...

(voice breaking): ...besides my bedroom,

was, like, the most degrading thing ever

for-- I mean, it's, like--

things that happened in here

that you wouldn't even think that would happen,

but you had to pretty much agree to it.

No matter how demeaning it felt or seemed,

you had to always just play along with it.

And it was just, like, you had Rob

pretty much, like, making you do the unthinkable.

And I just feel like... I never thought that I would

ever come back to this house and especially this room.

I never realized

how much this room hurts me.

(sniffles) But a-actually coming in here,

I don't want to ever revisit this room again.

(sniffles, crying)

(sniffles)

(crying)

This is just...

(sniffles)

(crying)

(sniffles)

(crying)

e crying)

ASANTE: I remember, at times,

coming out of my room. (sniffles)

In order to come down my steps,

I had to beat for him

to actually give me permission. And when I say "beat,"

-I literally had to do this... -(stomping)

...for him to hear me.

It's been times where I've knocked for hours,

and he just did not respond.

A person don't love you if he's treating you like that.

And I just knew I had to get out.

So I packed my bags and left the house.

Before I actually met him personally--

I guess because I was just so much of that fan--

I just couldn't see him as being that monster.

But now, actually being in that house

and witnessing with my own eyes,

I regret not listening and believing

of the allegations that happened.

There is a difference between R. Kelly and Robert.

R. Kelly is this fun, laughing, loving guy.

But Robert is the devil.

ORONIKE ODELEYE: Mute R. Kelly started in the summer of 2017,

when the allegations came out about him having

what the media were calling sex cults

in his home here in Atlanta.

The goals of Mute R. Kelly in the beginning were very humble.

It was, "Let's get him off Atlanta radio."

"And let's get his concerts cancelled."

I thought that that would be a really, kind of, simple ask,

with the 25 years of receipts

that we have against this person.

Um, and that was met with resounding silence.

Um, you know, the radio stations would not respond,

would not call me back.

We'd been playing R. Kelly music and hearing these rumors

and sometimes accusations of-of R. Kelly.

But radio has always just concentrated on the music

and not the-- and not the background.

And that is our fault.

At the same time, we discovered that he was--

had a concert coming up in Atlanta.

And so we decided to, um--

to protest.

WOMAN: What'd we come to do?!

PROTESTORS: Mute R. Kelly!

WOMAN: And when we gonna do it?!

PROTESTORS: Now!

ODELEYE: The response

was very, kind of, polarized, I think,

as the black community is on R. Kelly.

-WOMEN: R. Kelly! -(laughter)

You know, he's been the same for years.

Who are we to judge?

The protestors don't affect anything.

ODELEYE: And then, on the other hand, people are like,

"Hallelujah, finally, somebody's doing something."

And from there,

people started reaching us out, like, "Hey,

he's coming to Dallas."

"He's coming to Detroit."

"What can we do?"

They fought back and said,

"We do not want him performing here."

-WOMAN: Shame on you! -PROTESTORS: Shame on you!

-WOMAN: Shame on you! -Shame on you!

-WOMAN: Black girls'... -Black girls'...

-WOMAN: ...lives matter! -...lives matter!

I am a-a R. Kelly fan.

There's two sides to every story.

FAN: I'm here for the music

and nothing else.

And so we started to organize

the people locally in those towns,

to hold protests,

to ask venues to cancel it.

We've held seven protests

in cities around the country.

R. Kelly may have to find

a new spot to hold his next concert.

And it's, you know, just grown and grown and grown.

REPORTER: Kelly says he and his attorneys plan

to get to the bottom of the cancellation

of his performance.

BURKE: In 2017,

these two big stories come out about R. Kelly,

around him holding the girls captive.

And it falls right into this continuum of stories

that have come out around sexual misconduct,

sexual harassment in mainstream industries.

And in September, we have the huge

Harvey Weinstein articles drop,

which propelled this whole movement forward.

And R. Kelly doesn't get included in that.

Jerhonda Pace broke her NDA around R. Kelly,

and I wanted to shine light on that

and continue to keep the conversation about R. Kelly

and the accusations against him in the public eye.

-Like, I was 16. I didn't know... -MAI: Were you scared? What was

-running through your head? -Yeah, how were you feeling when all that was happening?

Very frightened. And, like, he would slap you

in your face, and he would physically, like, harm you.

There are six women that R. Kelly-- allegedly--

lives with and controls them.

NELSON: When usually one person comes forward,

-the door kind of opens. We saw this with #MeToo. -Mm-hmm.

NELSON: The question here is why does R. Kelly

always survive this? And the second biggest question

is why is the black community complicit in silence?

If them kids were Caucasian young women,

we would not be going through this.

The most disrespected woman in America, historically,

has always been the black woman.

You know, I always say, if you want to get away with murder,

kill a black rapper.

If you want to get away with sexual assault,

assault a young black girl.

If R. Kelly had been doing this to white women-- oh, my God.

The fact that it's mostly young black girls

that he preys on, simply nobody cares.

BURKE: These families came forward

and were making desperate pleas to get their children back,

to get their-their daughters back home

and away from R. Kelly.

We've been watching them since they came forward in 2017,

tried various attempts to get media attention,

but it doesn't take hold.

And again, I think that goes back into this idea that

black girls don't matter.

They don't matter enough.

And it's proven over and over again.

We still socially don't perceive young black women as innocent,

as deserving of protection; somehow it's their fault.

When the reality is that the problem isn't the girls,

the problem is the predators.

The way that we in society talk about

and think about sexual violence, a lot of times

it puts the onus on the victim.

People are brainwashed into thinking that they have

some complicity in their own abuse.

And so they don't come forward because of the deep shame,

the fear of being ostracized in their community.

There are all these different factors

that allow people to stay silent.

ASANTE: We're not blaming R. Kelly

for what he's doing,

we're blaming each other.

When you have fans like myself,

when I was that fan, that die-hard fan,

and I just felt like, "Oh, these girls are lying."

DR. JODY ADEWALE: People who stand up

and say, "I've been victimized. I've been sexually abused,"

we, as-as a society, tend to meet it with skepticism.

Because there have been cases where people have lied.

What do these young ladies have to gain from lying?

Oh, it's not like R. Kelly is some rich billionaire

that's just out here cutting checks to everybody.

It seems to me like some of these young ladies

just want to see the truth.

And I think with the whole Time's Up/Me Too movement,

and they see everybody else, you know,

getting their careers cancelled and people getting convicted,

they're like, "Yo, well, we want some justice, too.

"Can we use some of this Time's Up/Me Too movement energy

to get-get him, get him gone?"

R. Kelly's victims, nobody just cares about the--

the black women that speak out, especially the black community.

It's the black community that bashes the black women

that speak out about abuse.

ODELEYE: You have this, you know, powerful person

that's beloved in the African-American community.

And then you have a victim that nobody cares about.

Um, and the greater society perpetuates stereotypes

about black women that internally you start to believe.

We'll believe it if it's a convenient excuse

not to have to deal with the reality of R. Kelly,

and how we've been supporting and enabling him for decades.

NORAH O'DONNELL: A woman is suing singer-songwriter

R. Kelly for allegedly failing to disclose

a sexually transmitted disease.

She also accuses him of sexual battery.

REPORTER 4: This woman, Faith Rodgers, says that she was

in a relationship with R. Kelly when she was 19

for nearly a year before leaving.

My name is Faith, and I met R. Kelly in March of 2017.

He kind of had, like, a goofiness to him

when I initially met him.

I knew he was older, but when he gave me his number,

I wasn't thinking

things would be where they are, um, almost a year later.

He really was persistent, and he would call me,

and we would just talk about regular things.

I was flattered.

Nothing ever came off as... negative to me

in our conversations in the beginning.

So, the next time I saw R. Kelly was in May of 2017.

I flew to New York for a show.

(crowd cheering)

So, after the show, I went back to the room,

ended up falling asleep. At 6:00 a.m.,

pounding at the door.

Pounding, not knocking. He's pounding at the door.

Our conversations had been so great,

I expected the first encounter to go different.

It was consensual, but it was consented

by intimidation.

I felt just, like, something I had to do,

not that I wanted to do,

but I had to do because it was R. Kelly.

And who are you to tell R. Kelly no?

He's the type of person-- He's very demanding.

He's like a director, and this is his movie.

So, he's-he's like, "Do you like it?"

And I'm not responding.

And he's like, "Tell Daddy you like it."

And I'm still not responding.

And he's like, "We need to work on your moaning skills."

So, right away, he's critiquing me.

And the whole time, you know, he's-he's saying really...

perverted things, almost.

Um, he's like, "Young-- young tight (bleep),"

and things like that.

And so, eventually, he stops.

And I look back, and there's an iPad.

And I just turn my head away, you know.

I didn't want my face to be on it.

Two months went by.

The BuzzFeed thing about the harem, that came out in July.

I knew he was intimidating, um, but these allegations came out.

And they sounded so extreme.

How could he kidnap somebody?

How could he abuse somebody and beat them?

It was just twisted.

So I was really sitting there, confused.

The only conversation we had about it was him saying,

"It's not true." That these were lies.

Closer to the end of the year, December,

I had flown down for his concert in Dallas.

We were in a hotel room.

He kind of had gone on this emotional spiel,

you know, um, about life.

And then he revealed to me about "the girls."

He described them to be a family.

He made it seem like a family thing.

Um, "These are women that I raise.

"Some have been with me for 15 years.

Some of them have been with me for five years."

So he's sitting there and he's thinking,

and I can see him thinking 'cause he,

you know, he's like this.

So I'm like, "What is he about to do? Or ask me to do?"

He makes a phone call, and he's like,

"Get dressed, we're coming downstairs."

So I'm like, "Who are we going to see?"

We go downstairs,

and, um, he opens the door.

And it's the girl I saw in the TMZ stuff.

I'm like, "Oh.

She's the girl that her parents said that she was kidnapped."

FAITH: We were in a hotel room.

R. Kelly, he opens the door.

And it's the girl I saw in the TMZ stuff.

I'm like, "Oh. She's the girl

that her parents said that she was kidnapped."

She literally, like, jumped up to him like a puppy,

and kisses him on the mouth.

Seeing Joycelyn do exactly what he told her to do,

she's not acting like a real person.

She's acting like a robot.

Everything he said was so funny.

Or, you know, she was right there, just like, in awe of him.

And it's like, but when he would leave,

she would just be numb.

I wouldn't say she was kidnapped.

Brainwashed? Yes, absolutely.

ADEWALE: Our clinical term for brainwashing

is psychological manipulation.

There's nothing stopping you from leaving,

but an individual might stay because he or she might believe,

"I can't get out of this situation."

FAITH: When I walked away from the situation,

I didn't walk away because things had gotten bad

and, you know, he-he didn't want to talk to me. No.

I had made a conscious decision that I wasn't gonna

involve myself with someone who's doing this to young girls,

and women, because that's not who I am.

That's not what I stand for.

I had cut ties with him in February.

And I had no intentions on getting back with him.

I just wanted to move on.

So after it was over and done with,

I made the decision to reach out to the Savages.

I went to tell them about how it went

with me meeting their daughter Joycelyn.

FAITH (over phone): When I-- when I did meet her, um...

like, she opened the door and like,

he, like, looked at me and he looked at her.

And he was like, "I want y'all to get to know each other."

-Mm. -(laughs): So, uh...

I was just like, "Okay."

Because, you know, like seeing all that stuff on the news,

then, like, seeing her video and then seeing her in person,

like, it all was just really, like, wow.

Like, this is real life.

Right. I mean, it's not a game-- it's not a joke.

If you're-- if you were around long enough, he would have

cut you off from your father and your entire family.

And your old friends and everything.

(sighs)

FAITH: Of course they were upset, you know?

But they were like, "Thank you

for telling us, we haven't seen her."

And the fact that they had to ask me,

"Well, what does she look like? Was she skinnier?"

Things like that, you shouldn't have to ask

about your own child.

So that hit home for me, and I couldn't imagine

what my parents would feel like if that were me.

So from there, they begin to tell me

more disturbing things about R. Kelly.

And Tim Savage,

he asked me if I had been checked for STDs

since I've been with him.

And I'm like, "Why?" and he's like,

"I know for a fact my daughter has an incurable STD.

And she got it from R. Kelly."

After I reached out to the Savages,

I went and got a blood test

and it came back positive

for herpes.

My initial reaction: I wasn't angry at him.

I was angry at myself.

And I had already came to a point where I decided,

you know, I was done with him.

And then, on the other hand, I was like,

"If it were somebody in my city

"and they gave me a-an STD, I would address it.

I would pretty much make sure they were held accountable."

So why not hold him

on the same platform?

I knew I had to spread the word.

I wasn't gonna wait

ten or 20 years to come out and say he did that to me.

I was gonna come out now.

NEWS REPORTER: A young woman claimed singer R. Kelly

intentionally gave her an STD,

and now Dallas police are investigating.

When Mr. Kelly, who was infested with her--

uh, infected with herpes, engaged in sexual conduct

with my client without informing him of her status--

of his status, he committed a crime.

TOURE: So much evidence has been on the table for so long,

and it seems like, in the last two years,

there's been, like, even more momentum of, like,

"Whoa, this sex cult thing," like, "Whoa, this other story.

Whoa, this woman he gave an STD to."

Why is RCA Records still in business with him?

R. Kelly is not really

an active recording artist right now.

He's not on the roster.

RCA does not expect

a new album from him this year or next year.

There are a lot of music business institutions

that we need to look at to say, "Why are you continuing

to support this after all this time?"

BURKE: There were a series of events

in the spring that really amplified

the work around R. Kelly.

(audience cheering)

We really haven't had

a person in hip-hop who just straight-out said,

"He's guilty."

So Vince Staples at Coachella makes this statement

about R. Kelly being a pedophile and it goes viral.

R. Kelly never went to jail and he's a (bleep) child molester.

-Okay, let's never talk about R.... -He's a child molester.

I'm a good person, all right? R. Kelly is a piece of (bleep).

So, if a piece of (bleep) R. Kelly didn't go to jail

for being a child molester and peeing on people

and having a human trafficking ring in Atlanta,

then I'll be all right.

So we're seeing people now starting to,

to kind of get on board and that tide is turning.

Making a song with R. Kelly was a mistake.

♪ Turn that star up in paradise... ♪

I didn't value the accusers' stories, like...

-Hmm. -Because they were blackmailing him.

I made a mistake.

CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD: I can't even exert

any more energy telling y'all how-how trash R. Kelly is.

I've been saying R. Kelly is trash for years.

I-I think R. Kelly is on everybody's, uh,

permanently cancelled list.

All of this is wrong.

R. Kelly has a sickness. (chuckles)

Yes, I believe R. Kelly's a dirtbag scumbag,

and somebody should press charges

and try to prosecute again.

Press charges, let's go! Ride out!

BURKE: Tom Joyner is the Black America Radio Host.

He has hundreds

of syndicated radio stations around the country.

He had continued to play his music and so,

it felt to me like there was an-- huge support

from Tom Joyner around R. Kelly.

We need the Tom Joyner Morning Show

-to stop supporting R. Kelly. -TOM JOYNER: You got it.

Yeah, I won't play any more R. Kelly music.

And I was actually shocked. (chuckles)

I was shocked.

Pleasantly, you know, it's clearly--

but, it's-- that's a big deal.

It felt like a victory.

Radio host like Tom Joyner,

um, say "We're not gonna play him anymore,"

and this is at the core of, you know, the R. Kelly audience

and the type of stations that would play him.

Um, this is highly significant.

ANN POWERS: I think Mute R. Kelly is a great example

of the viral way that activism is happening

around Me Too and these issues in the music industry.

BURKE: May of 2018,

the Women of Color and Time's Up got together and wrote

this public letter and it went viral.

WENDY WILLIAMS: There's a group

of really powerful black women, including: Shonda Rhimes,

Eva Longoria, Ava DuVernay, Kerry Washington, Viola Davis.

They've all announced this campaign

that they're on-- behind:

-Mute R. Kelly. -(cheering)

Other celebrities, non-black celebrities,

who also amplified it.

So, that's huge.

ORONIKE: The Me Too movement and Time's Up movement

coming behind the Mute R. Kelly movement

have really kind of helped push that, you know, forward

in the national consciousness.

It's one thing for Oronike to say,

"You should stop listening to R. Kelly."

It's another thing for Ava DuVernay.

And if John Legend coming out, and Questlove coming out?

Other men who have come out, that makes people think

about it in a different kind of a way.

And the response we got from it was just overwhelming.

I mean, it just-- people who had never heard of it,

they thought we started this movement yesterday.

And as the movement has ex-- has expanded,

people have kind of dictated where it's going.

They said to us, you know, "Hey, what about streaming?

You guys should go after streaming."

Streaming service Spotify is removing R. Kelly's music

from its playlists and recommendations.

It's just the latest in the growing backlash against Kelly,

who's been accused of sexual misconduct for decades.

ORONIKE: Spotify saying, basically,

they're gonna, like, downgrade him,

so they're no longer going to put him

on curated playlists or sponsored playlists,

is important.

NEWS ANCHOR: R. Kelly apologizes to fans

after a Chicago concert is abruptly cancelled.

Promoters opted to pull Kelly out of the lineup

that included Xscap3 and Lyfe Jennings.

ORONIKE: To get Chicago to say,

"We don't want you here. You can't perform,"

was just an amazing victory. I mean, I-I was floored

when I heard that they decided to cancel that concert,

but it was so important.

Yo, what's up, y'all?

This ya boy, Kells, man, and, uh...

I don't know why they cancelled the show.

Um, I never heard of a show being cancelled

because of rumors.

Don't put that on me. You know?

That ain't on me, all right?

The more we talk about this,

the more we see what R. Kelly has been doing historically,

over and over and over again.

And then all these cases that he's settled.

We have to keep pushing, and keep pushing

till we get some indictments, you know? Keep pushing.

For some reason, he has-- he is-- he's Teflon.

And I don't get that.

I don't get why the justice system

can't bring him to justice.

LEGEND: He is a serial abuser

that has, uh, gotten away with it for far too long.

And I think time's up for R. Kelly.

Um, being accepted by the entertainment industry

a-and just kind of allowed to, uh,

make money and be treated as though he didn't do

all these terrible things, um, time's up for that.

WOMAN: Mute R. Kelly!

PROTESTERS: Mute R. Kelly!

ANGELO: Not having any contact with Azriel,

we started growing suspicious.

We started investigating, and once we found out

her iCloud was still under her mother name,

we went into it and looked at text messages,

and we found some really disturbing text messages

between them.

They had sex in Florida that first time they met.

In, uh, 2015, when she was 17 years old.

It makes me feel, as a father...

less than a man, if that makes sense.

A piece of me seemed to die off.

I don't know anything about the Azriel that's 20 now.

My daughter's no different than the Savages.

I think the TMZ article

with Joy Savage was a statement

to every mother and every father that has a daughter.

That's a predator that's telling y'all,

"I don't care what y'all think about me.

"I'm-a show you, I'm-a get these girls to do

what I want 'em to do, when I want 'em to do."

And if anybody need education, go look at some pimp movies.

Go look at Superfly and all them old '60s movies.

R. Kelly blueprint is the same as a pimp.

And what they doing is showing you,

"I don't care how much you cry,

'I want my daughter, I want my daughter!'"

Your daughter going to be

whatever he want her to be

until he finish with her and give her back.

And I'm not putting down any other father,

but it's a little different

when he dealing with me.

We not going to do "Hey" to TMZ,

the BuzzFeed back and forth.

We're not going to play that game.

ALICE: Azriel!

Az!

Azriel, open the door!

Azzy.

I know she ain't going to open that mother(bleep) studio door.

CAMERAMAN: How you know she in there?

-ALICE: Yeah, how you doing? -We have word that she here.

ALICE: I need to do a welfare check.

She may be harmed or something, but I need to see

if my daughter's okay.

I have not seen her in three years.

ALICE: Dominique, she escaped,

and she's home with her mom now.

And she was the one that told us that Azriel actually is--

was left in Chicago, up here in a studio.

I need to get in and make sure that she's okay.

All right, thank you.

She basically said that Azriel has been

wanting to leave for a while, and that, uh,

she actually escaped before, and they found her

running down the street or something.

And so they brought her back.

You know, that's why she don't really have any--

I guess she don't get to be around nobody else anymore.

So, I don't know.

I'm Alice Clary. I'm the one who placed the call.

Our daughter, we got a tip that she's here

and she's trying to leave, so we need to do a wellness check.

ALICE: We think here. We don't know.

POLICE OFFICER: She didn't say anything?

ALICE: She's been here with him for three years.

We have not seen our daughter in three years.

ALICE: Mm-hmm.

The police said there was nothing they can do

as a well check if nobody's willing to open the door.

So... at this point we just got to wait and see

if somebody can open the door.

I'm going to stay here all night, I'm not leaving.

ANGELO: Hey!

(rock clatters)

ALICE: At this point,

if you are our daughter, then come back outside or something.

Talk to us or whatever. Let us know something.

ANGELO: Hey!

-ALICE (screams): Open the door! -ANGELO: Hey!

CAMERAMAN: (bleep) (bleep) Stop, stop, stop.

ALICE: Clearly, someone is in the building.

We just watched a young lady come up,

turn the lights off, close the blinds and everything, so...

PRODUCER: Mmm...

But we couldn't tell. It kind of looked like

it could have been her,

but she did it so quick.

PRODUCER: Mm-hmm.

ALICE: We just seen a silo-- like,

you know, her do it, like, her arm--

I don't know.

(Angelo pleading)

This a bad place for any parent to be.

You know, outside of a building...

ALICE: You don't know everything!

ANGELO: ...that your child may be in, or may not be in.

This might as well be a prison.

ALICE: I need to see that that young girl is not my daughter.

ANGELO: We want to make sure it ain't her.

ALICE: This is the only lead we have had in three years.

I am desperate at this point.

I don't want nothing from none of them.

They play a lot games with this man, that's on them.

If they want to protect a (bleep) pedophile,

that's on them, that's cool.

I just need to know if my daughter is in there.

If she is of age and she says no, that's fine, I will leave.

I just need to see if that is her.

I don't know.

At this point... uh...

d a very

interesting conversation with him

that lasted for about two hours last spring.

All of a sudden, the phone rings.

And the conversation that I had with him,

I promised him confidentiality.

He told me I could ask him anything.

And I asked him everything.

And he answered... everything.

I don't know why he wanted to talk to me.

It was almost like he wanted to purge or something.

He didn't tell me he likes young girls.

He told me he likes petite women.

You know, a particular height and size.

He didn't say he likes young girls, but the court records--

you know, the allegations-- speak for themselves.

He doesn't have to say it.

And when we finished having our conversation,

the "I Admit" song came out.

Singer R. Kelly released a new 19-minute song today

that addresses several sexual abuse allegations against him.

The song is titled "I Admit" and is posted to SoundCloud.

♪ I admit it, I did-- did it ♪

♪ ♪

Like a lot of his music, it's very much telling on himself.

♪ ♪

♪ I admit, I admit, I admit. ♪

Having been around music culture my whole life,

in the past, R. Kelly's always been able to make

his outrageousness into a story that sells.

So, it was just par for the course

when he released "I Admit."

It's the dumbest damn 19 minutes in the universe.

He doesn't admit anything,

he just proves that he's a narcissist.

He proves that he's gaslighting.

He's proving that he's never going to take responsibility

for his actions.

GEORGE: It's crazy. Throughout his music,

he's been remarkably frank about his predilections...

(crowd shouting)

...about his freakiness.

About levels of control, even. They're in there.

So, I mean, it's not like he's hidden.

But we have been afraid to look.

NORCOTT: Somebody will work hard to have

a very polished, very popular

persona in the public so that when somebody

will make these accusations,

and they'll be able to say, "Does that even sound like me?

"Right? Like that-- I would-- I would never do that.

"Why would I risk all of this, all that I have,

my-- your perception of me for that?"

KATHY CHANEY: I really don't think that R. Kelly knows who

Robert Sylvester Kelly is.

I think he may be struggling with, "Who am I really?

Who is this person that I've become?"

LEGEND: R. Kelly has brought so much pain

to so many people.

And he should be ashamed of himself.

And, um, I hope there is some justice

done to him at some point.

♪ ♪

PRODUCER: If R. Kelly was watching right now,

what would you want to say to him directly?

R. Kelly, if you watching this,

I just want to hear my daughter voice.

You're keeping her from not just me and my wife,

her whole entire family.

If I ever come across you again,

it's on and popping.

That's your head.

ANGELO: Once she start, I'm right beside her.

And I don't mind going to jail.

I've been there before, and I'll go there back again.

Take responsibility for the lives that you've destroyed.

JOVANTE: You are not exempt. You are not special.

You need to see the effects of your behavior.

(crying): Quit-- Quit hurting people.

Quit hurting these girls.

LIZZETTE: Stop seeking young women

to fulfill your sexual deviancy.

This can't keep going on.

PRODUCER: What do you think Robert's doing right now?

I hope Robert is trying to get his sense together.

Whatever is in the dark will come to light.

And until you do right by all of them girls...

...nothing is going to come good to you.

Mark my word.

(woman vocalizing)

♪ ♪

I'm just really happy that I can speak out,

and I don't have to

accept his money for my silence.

He's no longer controlling me.

♪ ♪

♪ We are ready ♪

♪ If you didn't know... ♪

Even though it was hard-- it's even hard

reliving it and talking about it--

I'm proud of telling my story.

It's a testimony to help other people.

♪ We'll be right here ♪

-♪ Ready ♪ -♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Ready, oh, oh ♪

-♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ -♪ Oh, oh, oh... ♪

The reason why I consider myself a survivor:

because I did not let this break me down.

I could have easily let this situation-- But I didn't.

♪ ♪

♪ We are ready ♪

♪ Been going on too long ♪

♪ We are ready ♪

♪ And we've had about enough ♪

♪ Oh, we are ready ♪

♪ Won't be silent no more... ♪

I don't like to claim a victim anymore.

I w-- I was a victim.

PRODUCER: Are you a survivor?

I am a survivor. (chuckles)

-♪ Ready ♪ -♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Ready... ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ But on this crazy obstacle course I've been on ♪

♪ I mean, now, more than ever ♪

♪ I'm ready ♪

♪ We are ready ♪

♪ We'll be right here, ready. ♪