Surviving R. Kelly is a lot to process.
As the latest docuseries from Lifetime, it’s forced our community to confront our fear of the dark and acknowledge the monster that lives under our bed.
Equal parts eye-opening and nauseating, it’s provided us with not only firsthand accounts of his abhorrent, predatory behavior, but provided context to a magnificent catalog of songs we once held dear—songs that will never sound the same again.
As such, last night provided us with another glimpse into his decades of alleged sexual misconduct and here’s what we learned:
- R. Kelly participated in an underage threesome that involved a 14-year-old
Last night introduced the infamous sex tape into the fold, in which Kelly is seen allegedly urinating on an underage girl. While the identity of the victim is withheld, former protégé Stephanie “Sparkle” Edwards asserts that the girl in the video is her niece—the same niece she introduced to Kelly when she was only 12-years-old.
“I should have never introduced her to him. I should have never introduced my family to him. How dare (he)?” she tearfully laments. “On the tape, my niece has the same hairstyle she had when she turned 14. That was her, for sure. And that was him. Definitely.”
Lisa Van Allen, another victim of Kelly’s predatory behavior, identified the victim as well. But the specifics of how she was able to do so were jaw-dropping:
“He and I were actually having sex with her. I was unaware of how young she was. She was actually 14,” Van Allen said, describing their encounter. “When I figured out that I had sex with a 14-year-old, it made me feel betrayed because he lied to me and told me she was 16, which would’ve been close to my age. [...] “And it also made me question his motives. I mean, the fact that he lied to me about her age told me he obviously knew that wasn’t OK, for her to be younger. It made me feel sick to my stomach.”
- R. Kelly couldn’t stop himself from recording his sexual acts and knew it would be his undoing
Prior to his infamous sex tape going public, R. Kelly confided in his former tour manager that he couldn’t stop recording himself engaging in illicit acts with minors—something Lisa Van Allen likened to collecting trophies.
“He came to me and told me about the video tapes. [He said], ‘You gotta help me, man. We gotta pray, because these videos, I can’t stop taping myself,’” says Demetrius Smith, Kelly’s former tour manager and personal assistant. “I didn’t know what was ahead with those tapes, but Robert did. He used to come to me, and he used to talk to me about that. He said, ‘Man, this is going to get me in trouble, man. I can’t seem to stop. These are going to destroy me.’”
- The trial involved more than a few payoffs
R. Kelly’s older brother Bruce has spent the entire docuseries defending and excusing his brother’s behavior and last night was no different.
At one point, he breaks down the deal that R. Kelly’s legal team offered their younger brother, Carey Kelly, during the trial: A payoff of $100,000 and a recording contract in exchange for Carey’s refusal to discuss R. Kelly’s alleged criminal behavior. Carey turned it down.
“Robert simply asked Carey to tell the truth, and do a deposition with his attorneys saying that the things that he was saying were not true,” Bruce says. “And (R. Kelly) said, ‘If you do this deposition with my attorneys, I will give you $100,000 and a one-record contract deal. I’ll never understand that as long as I live. You could have been rich. I’ll never understand that.”
Sparkle alleges that she was offered a large sum to change her story as well.
“Robert’s legal team was basically trying to say that I was out for money, or I was bitter. [...] They offered me high in the six figures for me and Robert to have a sit-down with all media around us to say that Sparkle and I are OK,” she says. “I didn’t take the money, because I can’t be bought. I really don’t know if my family was paid off. I know the family was still hanging out with him. My brother-in-law was still playing guitar on a lot of his songs.”
- R. Kelly’s list of enablers was long and included record execs
Despite the litany of allegations, R. Kelly’s dominion remained invincible due to his unparalleled commercial success. So much so that record execs turned a blind eye on his behavior while his army of enablers allowed him to wreck havoc on the lives of his victims.
“You have your team, you have your cover-up people, you have lawyers settling claims out of court,” Andrea Kelly says. “Not trying to be funny, but you don’t read and write well, so you’re not booking flights. Who’s booking these flights? Who’s telling the driver to go pick people up? Who’s getting these hotel rooms? He’s not doing it alone.”
While Sparkle revealed the following, “One young exec stated, ‘I don’t care if that is him on that tape, because we can’t afford to lose him.’”
And Demetrius Smith had his own admission: “It was the same routine [every day], because he can have his way. We work for him, and this is what he wanted, so this is what we were supposed to get him.”
- R. Kelly met one of his alleged victims while on trial
While on trial for child pornography, naturally his fans would show up to offer support. However, Jerhonda Pace—who partook in brief conversations with him as he proceeded in and out of the courtroom—developed a relationship with him. She was 14-years-old.
Shortly after her 16th birthday, however, she was invited to his home.
“He talked about being molested as well, and he told me he was molested by an older guy in his neighborhood,” she says, reflecting on how he was able to prey on her naiveté. “I felt like we had a connection, because I told him I was sexually abused when I was 4, 6, and 8 years old.”
At this point, Kelly began to fondle her, which she rebuffed and told him she was a virgin. His response?
“’Well, that’s perfect,’” she says, “’That means I get to train you and I get to take your virginity.’ That’s when he proceeded to do oral sex on me. And he told me to do the same thing on him.”
Pace admits that she initially told him that she was 19-years-old, but she finally revealed that she was actually 16, he replied, “’OK, what is that supposed to mean?’ He said to continue telling everybody that you were 19, and to act 21.”
And as sobering as this docuseries has been thus far, according to executive producer dream hampton it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
“Tomorrow, we air what are in my opinion, the most powerful episodes,” she tweeted. “I hope you can watch.”
Surviving R. Kelly continues tonight on Lifetime at 9pm EST.