Following a report that a newly surfaced sex tape allegedly shows R. Kelly with an underage girl, lawyer Gloria Allred issued a statement Friday saying that the woman in the video “may be” one of her clients.
“I represent numerous women who allege they were sexually victimized by R. Kelly when they were underage,” Allred said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “The details that CNN reported about what is on the tape that has allegedly been turned over to Chicago law enforcement is of great concern to me, because the person who is described as a 14 year-old alleged victim on the tape may be one of my clients.”
Allred added, “I am very troubled that this tape has been viewed by the press and by other persons who are not law enforcement.”
Allred also represented Faith Rodgers, one of the women featured in Surviving R. Kelly, on a pair of lawsuits against the singer, including one where Rodgers claimed Kelly gave her a sexually transmitted disease. However, as Rodgers has stated she was 19 when she first met Kelly, it’s unlikely she is the woman in the video that lawyer Michael Avenatti gave to Chicago prosecutors, either before or after showing it to CNN.
At a January press conference, Allred announced that she would represent Rodgers as well as another Kelly accuser who was underage when she and Kelly first met, but Allred didn’t elaborate further on that client.
“I plan to take all appropriate steps a.s.a.p. to confirm if one of my clients is on this reported tape, and if she is portrayed on the tape we will do everything legally possible to protect her and her rights,” Allred said in the new statement.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, called Allred’s comments “speculative.”