When Surviving R. Kelly was released on Lifetime in 2019, it was integral to educating the public about the crimes that eventually got the disgraced singer sentenced to 30 years in prison.
A year later in 2020, the creators released Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning which featured more interviews with more survivors of Kelly’s abuse. Part II was a painful exploration of how abused victims are rarely believed, even if they have evidence to corroborate their stories. In other words, victim blaming.
Now, nearly four years later after the original documentary’s release, the creators of Surviving R. Kelly are concluding their trilogy with one final chapter. The two-part series, which will air on Lifetime on January 2 and 3, will chronicle the trials, convictions and fallout that came after the initial charges were made in 2019.
Many of the guests who appeared in the original documentary will also appear in The Final Chapter, including victims, legal experts, and the families of victims.
Kelly has been in the news lately thanks to a new album being released on streaming services while the disgraced singer was sitting in a federal prison.
I Admit It was available to stream on Apple Music and Spotify and had many wondering, including myself, how he could release a project from behind bars. Turns out, the album didn’t even last 24 hours on streaming services and was soon pulled.
According to TMZ, it’s unclear how the album was put out in the first place, and who was behind its release. The recording that could be heard on streaming services was a actually a bootleg version; whoever released it, claimed it was part of Sony Music’s catalog division, Legacy Recordings. A source from Sony Music set the record straight that this was not the case.
According to Billboard, the album was uploaded by Ingrooves, a distribution company owned by Universal Music Group.
Following I Admit It’s appearance on streaming services earlier this week, Kelly released a statement from prison that read, “LEAVE MY MUSIC ALONE!!!”