{"id":264697,"date":"2019-01-04T09:22:44","date_gmt":"2019-01-04T16:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/b1001563"},"modified":"2019-01-04T09:22:44","modified_gmt":"2019-01-04T16:22:44","slug":"why-john-legend-was-the-only-artist-to-speak-out-against-r-kelly-in-lifetime-docu-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/music-news\/why-john-legend-was-the-only-artist-to-speak-out-against-r-kelly-in-lifetime-docu-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Why John Legend Was the Only Artist to Speak Out Against R. Kelly in Lifetime Docu-Series"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"John<\/p>\n

Dimitrios Kambouris\/Getty Images for Glamour, Prince Williams\/WireImage<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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John Legend<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0says\u00a0speaking out against R. Kelly\u00a0in the Lifetime docu-series Surviving R. Kelly\u00a0<\/em>was an “easy decision,” calling the fellow singer a “serial child rapist.”<\/p>\n

The project premiered on Thursday and focuses on women who allegedly underwent\u00a0sexual, mental and physical abuse by the singer. Kelly has denied any misconduct and in addition, his lawyer has threatened to sue Lifetime, according to TMZ<\/a>. Kelly\u00a0has not commented publicly on Legend’s latest remarks about him.<\/p>\n

“R. Kelly has brought so much pain to so many people,”\u00a0Legend says in the docu-series. “#TimesUp for R. Kelly.”<\/p>\n

After the first episode aired, Legend tweeted<\/a> on Friday, “To everyone telling me how courageous I am for appearing in the doc, it didn’t feel risky at all. I believe these women and don’t give a f–k about protecting a serial child rapist. Easy decision.”<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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Legend was not the only music artist to be asked to take part in\u00a0Surviving R. Kelly<\/em> but he was the only one who agreed to do so.<\/p>\n

“When it comes to celebrities, It was incredibly difficult to get people who had collaborated [artistically] with Kelly to come forward,” the show’s executive producer, Dream Hampton<\/strong>, told the\u00a0Detroit Free Press<\/a><\/em>. “We asked Lady Gaga<\/a><\/strong>. We asked Erykah Badu<\/strong>. We asked C\u00e9line Dion<\/a><\/strong>. We asked Jay-Z<\/strong>. We asked Dave Chappelle<\/strong>. (They’re) people who have been critical of him. That makes John Legend even more of a hero for me.”<\/p>\n

“We should all thank my friend @dreamhampton for her very necessary work to create #SurvivingRKelly,” Legend tweeted<\/a>. “These survivors deserved to be lifted up and heard. I hope it gets them closer to some kind of justice.”<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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Legend had also spoken out in the past against Kelly; Last April, the Time’s Up movement pledged support for\u00a0a #MuteRKelly campaign, which began after the abuse allegations came to light, and Legend also tweeted<\/a> in support of\u00a0it. The following July, Kelly released the track “I Admit,” which addresses the allegations and also mentions\u00a0the “All of Me” singer.<\/p>\n

“I admit it \/ I love Steve Harvey<\/a><\/strong>. John Legend, and Tom Joyner<\/strong>\u00a0\/ They’re doing good in their lives right now \/ Why would they wanna tear down another brother (tear down) \/ Women show black men some love (yeah)\u00a0\/ ‘Cause black men, we go through enough (oh),” Kelly sings.<\/p>\n

In 2017, several parents of alleged victims claimed the singer was\u00a0keeping their daughters against their will in an abusive “cult.” One of the\u00a0women named,\u00a0Jocelyn Savage<\/strong> later\u00a0told TMZ<\/a>\u00a0she was\u00a0“not being brainwashed.”\u00a0Kelly’s attorney had said in a statement<\/a>\u00a0at the time\u00a0that the singer\u00a0“is both alarmed and disturbed at the recent revelations attributed to him” and\u00a0“unequivocally denies such allegations and will work diligently and forcibly to pursue his accusers and clear his name.”<\/p>\n

“I Admit” includes the lyrics,\u00a0“I admit that I am not perfect, I never said I was perfect \/ Said I’m abusing these women, what the f–k that’s some absurd s–t \/ They’re brainwashed, really? \/ Kidnapped, really? \/ Can’t eat, really? \/ Real talk, that s–t sound silly,” and\u00a0“What’s the definition of a cult? \/ What’s the definition of a sex slave? \/ Go to the dictionary, look it up \/\u00a0Let me know, I’ll be here waiting.”<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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Hampton told\u00a0Shadow and Act<\/a>\u00a0that “John Legend was the only one” who participated in the docu-series, adding that she had also asked Mary J. Blige<\/a><\/strong> and\u00a0Lil’ Kim<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“But they all said no,” she said. “I mean, most people just don’t want to touch it. I\u00a0remember Ahmir [“Questlove” Thompson]<\/strong> was like, ‘I would do anything for you but I can’t do this.’ It’s not because they support him, it’s because it’s so messy and muddy. It’s that turning away that has allowed this to go on.”<\/p>\n

On Thursday, a Twitter user asked Questlove why he declined to talk about Kelly for the docu-series.<\/p>\n

“I always thought Kels was trash,” the musician replied<\/a> in a tweet that have since been deleted. “My reason for declining the R.Kelly docu that I support 10000000 percent is I didn’t wanna be in the ‘good times’ portion of the doc, like stanning for his ‘genius.’ I was asked to talk about his genius. I do not nor have I EVER stanned for him…That quote makes it look like I’m protecting him. I’m thinking ‘damn I don’t wanna be the one guy I always am in documentaries fawning over someone I detest. So make ZERO mistake on my positioning.'”<\/p>\n

Hampton later responded to Questlove on Twitter, and also deleted her own tweets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I’m sorry that this quote has caused you grief,” she wrote. “You didn’t want to talk about him, no one did. But I think that not talking abt him has been a kind of pass, which is what I said. Didn’t mean for you to stand out in that quote…I didn’t ask you<\/a>\u00a0about his ‘Genius.’ I’ve never thought he was a genius. I asked you to come on camera and say the same thing you said on Twitter. I told you I need Black male allies.”<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

via:: E! Online<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dimitrios Kambouris\/Getty Images for Glamour, Prince Williams\/WireImage John Legend\u00a0says\u00a0speaking out against R. Kelly\u00a0in the Lifetime docu-series Surviving R. Kelly\u00a0was an “easy decision,” calling the fellow singer a “serial child rapist.” The project premiered on Thursday and focuses on women who allegedly underwent\u00a0sexual, mental and physical abuse by the singer. Kelly has denied any misconduct and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-264697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-13 16:36:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KIDN - The Lift FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264697\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}