R. Kelly has appeared to respond to the #MuteRKelly movement after he was caught on video saying that it was “too late” for any concerted efforts to be made to stop people listening to his music.
Kelly has faced a number of accusations of sexual abuse and misconduct in the past year. Last July, he was accused of running an “abusive and controlling cult” of young women.
Kelly was then accused of grooming a 14 year-old girl to be his sex “pet” in March, before Dallas police confirmed in April that they were investigating claims that Kelly gave a woman a STD and plied her with drugs and alcohol. Kelly has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct.
Major music streaming services have recently responded to the online #MuteRKelly movement, which has called for a boycott of Kelly’s music following the allegations which have been made against him. Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora have all taken action by removing Kelly’s music from their curated or featured playlists.
However, Kelly has now appeared to respond to that action in a leaked video, which sees him claiming that the efforts which have been made to silence his music and influence have come “too late”.
“I’m handcuffed by my destiny. It’s too late. They should’ve did this shit 30 years ago,” Kelly is heard saying in the video. “It’s too late. The music has been injected into the world.”
He then proposes a toast: “To all the strong motherfuckers in here right now. Motherfuckers like you is why I still continue to do what I do, because I have a basketball mentality. As long as I’ve got the ball, the world is on defense.” See the clip below.
So, remember that I told you about that random Antoine Walker FB Live video with R. Kelly last night? Well, here is partially slurring Kels proposing a toast declaring “it’s too late” to #MuteRKelly pic.twitter.com/a45z7EDis2
— ??????? ???? (@exavierpope) May 18, 2018
Despite the progress of the #MuteRKelly movement, recent statistics have actually shown that Kelly has enjoyed a rise in Spotify streams.