Annons
Two years ago, R. Kelly was undergoing something of a renaissance. Despite the very public and persistent allegations that the singer had raped or otherwise sexually assaulted underaged girls, Pitchfork offered the artist, then 45, a headlining slot at its summer festival. Coachella had enlisted Kellz to perform his massive "Ignition (Remix)," backed by indie rock titans Phoenix, to rapturous reception. That fall, Saturday Night Live and the American Music Awards each invited him to perform to even bigger televised audiences. Kelly's 13th solo album, Black Panties, dropped in December of 2013, and received mostly positive reviews.And then, just as they have now, the allegations against Kelly reared their head. Shortly after Black Panties' release, the Village Voice ran an interview between prominent music writer Jessica Hopper and Jim DeRogatis, the Chicago Sun-Times reporter who originally broke the rape allegations against Kelly and has been relentlessly covering the story ever since. DeRogatis estimated that more than two dozen of Kelly's alleged victims had come forward for interviews with him. Of the hundreds of pages of allegations on file in the Chicago court system, DeRogatis explained, Kelly has never stood trial for rape. Each case was settled out of court, and the details of the settlements are sealed.
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Annons