R&B singer, R. Kelly’s lawyer, publicist and long time assistant, have all cut ties with him. The news comes just after the release of 'R.Kelly: S
R&B singer, R. Kelly’s lawyer, publicist and long time assistant, have all cut ties with him. The news comes just after the release of ‘R.Kelly: Sex, Girls and Videotapes’, a BBC documentary that examines the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct and assault against him including accusations that he held women against their will in an abusive sex cult. The documentary appears to have struck a nerve among those closest to him. The singer has been the subject of alleged sex crimes for years.
Linda Mensch, who was Kelly’s entertainment lawyer, said she no longer represented Mr. Kelly or his entities. She said she resigned in February and that it was unrelated to Kelly’s social life. Trevian Kutti, Kelly’s publicist, told also said he no longer represents Kelly as of April 16. And Diana Copeland, who has been Kelly’s executive assistant for more than 10 years, has resigned as well. The reasons behind their departures are not known, but it may not be unconnected with R.Kelly’s disturbing scandal and allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse.
In July 2017, Buzz Feed published an explosive story that reported Kelly was holding multiple young women against their will in what their parents described as an abusive sex cult. Multiple women have come forward with allegations about Kelly, including former radio DJ, Kitti Jones who told Rolling Stone she suffered verbal and physical abuse throughout her two-year relationship with Kelly. Jones is featured in the BBC documentary, during which she said she was part of Kelly’s ‘sex dungeon’ and was forced to have sex with him and other people more than 10 times. She believes some of the girls in the ‘sex dungeon’ were underage, and talked about an encounter with R Kelly where he told her that he had been training one of the girls from the age of 14 to be one of his pets.
Kitti Jones said, “I saw that this girl was dressed like me, that she was saying the things I’d say, and her mannerisms were like mine. That’s when it clicked in my head that he had been grooming me to become one of his pets, too. He calls them his pets.”
Kelly has previously denied these claims, calling them false and defamatory. R. Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, has for years been dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse. Jim DeRogatis, the music journalist who wrote the original 2017 BuzzFeed story, has for years covered Kelly and in 2013 laid out a time line of his alleged misdeeds, including his 1994 marriage to singer Aaliyah when he was 27 and she was 15 and the multiple lawsuits and settlements with women who said he abused them.
DeRogatis was also the recipient of the now-infamous videotape that shows Kelly engaging in sex acts with and urinating on a young girl. He was ultimately indicted on 21 counts of child pornography, seven of which were later dropped, and was in 2008 found not guilty. Throughout all of this time, Kelly has continued to perform, make money, and book shows. He tweeted as recently as Wednesday to tout an upcoming show and highlight a Bruno Mars cover of one of his songs.
This isn’t the first time those around Kelly have distanced themselves. Kelly’s former manager, Barry Hankerson, resigned in 2000. He wrote a letter to the star’s lawyer saying he thought Kelly needed psychiatric help for a compulsion to pursue underage girls.
