Two more women have accused R Kelly of sexual misconduct at a press conference held earlier today (February 21).
The women identified themselves as Latrice and Rochelle, and said the alleged incident took place when they were 16 and 15 years old respectively.
They told reporters they saw Kelly perform at Baltimore Arena (now called Royal Farms Arena) in 1995 and attended an after-party where they were given drugs and alcohol. They said they were then invited to the star’s hotel room where one of his handlers allegedly told them to “pull up [their] dresses” before Kelly arrived.
Latrice said when the singer entered the room, “his penis was out and over the top of his pants.” The women claimed he asked them to have a threesome with him. Rochelle declined and went into the bathroom. Latrice said Kelly asked her to perform oral sex on him before he had sexual intercourse with her, although she said she “did not have the capacity to consent.”
“When I met him, I was happy because I was young and starstruck,” Latrice said. “However, now that I’m an adult, I feel hurt by what he did to me when I was only 16 years old and under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, which was given to me at that party.”
Lawyer Gloria Allred addressed Kelly during the press conference, telling him: “You have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. You have been able to get away with your predatory misconduct for far too long and, to date, the only ones who have paid the price for your misconduct have been the young women who allege that you have victimised them.
“Now, all of that has changed. Your victims are now surrounding you and crying out to justice. They are willing to face their fear and are no longer willing to let you get away with what they allege you have inflicted on them. It is time for you to face the consequences to what you have done in our system of justice.”
Allred added that Latrice and Rochelle would speak to law enforcement officers today to give their testimonies.
Kelly had not responded to the new allegations at the time of writing but has always denied the multiple claims of sexual misconduct against him. In January, he issued a fresh denial through his lawyer Steve Greenberg, who said: “The allegations aren’t true because he never knowingly had sex with an underage woman, he never forced anyone to do anything, he never held anyone captive, he never abused anyone.”
Yesterday (February 20), lawyer Michael Avenatti said he had evidence of a further video purporting to show Kelly’s involvement with minors. “We have become aware of the existence of a third tape, that allegedly shows further acts of sexual abuse of an underage girl by R Kelly, which we are presently working to recover and turnover to law enforcement,” he tweeted.