HILLARY: On January 3rd, Lifetime debuted the documentary 'Surviving R.Kelly,' illuminating
some sobering news about the artist, who has long been accused of sexually abusing young women.
MIKKA: Why didn't anyone notice?
We all notice it's just that no one cared because we were black girls.
SURVIVOR: I'm sorry...
HILLARY: One revelation was that R.Kelly wrote Michael Jackson's 1995 hit "You Are Not Alone,"
about a teen he was abusing.
LIZETTE: At this time I'm a senior in high school and I had found out that I was pregnant.
And a few days later, I had a miscarriage.
When he wrote it, he was thinking of me.
HILLARY: "You Are Not Alone," topped the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1995.
HILLARY: And according to R.Kelly, he wrote it for the King of Pop himself, saying quote:
HILLARY: By 1994, R.Kelly, then 27, had already wed and separated from singer Aaliyah, who was 15.
They met through the production of her debut album 'Age Ain't Nothing But A Number'
and he'd written her breakout single of the same name about a young girl talking an older man into
sleeping with her.
HILLARY: In another, terrible revelation from the documentary, a background singer named
Javonte Cunningham said she walked in on Kelly and Aaliyah having sex.
HILLARY: Aaliyah's family issued a statement saying the story isn't true.
HILLARY: While R.Kelly has made music that's sexually over the top, he's also made gospel-influenced
hits that may have muddied the waters for some about whether they should walk away from him.
Songs like "I Believe I Can Fly" from 1996's kid-friendly 'Space Jam.'
HILLARY: And Celine Dion's "Angel" in 1998.
HILLARY: Even the remix to "Ignition" dropped in the shadow of allegations that
he'd sexually abused a 14-year-old girl and filmed the encounter in 2000.
The DVD was literally sold on city streets like a bootleg movie.
In 2003, "Ignition" peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
HILLARY: Numerous women have accused R.Kelly of abuse.
In 2000, Jim DeRogatis first wrote about Kelly's child pornography tape, leading to a criminal
trial in 2008.
Despite 14 witnesses and the victim's aunt, singer Sparkle, identifying the girl in the video,
Kelly was acquitted.
HILLARY: And then he said this.
TOURE: Do you like teenage girls?
R. KELLY: When you say teenage, how old are we talking?
HILLARY: In 2017, DeRogatis also broke a story about a young woman who was reportedly being
held against her will in a "sex cult" led by Kelly.
HILLARY: The following year, R. Kelly released a nineteen minute long song called "I Admit,"
where he addressed those allegations directly.
HILLARY: Along with longtime accusations of sexual assault and pedophilia.
HILLARY: Singer K. Michelle, who was also in a relationship with R. Kelly for a time,
had this to say.
K. MICHELLE: At the same time I was the girl saying something happened to me,
and the world told me it didn't happen.
When I look on the blogs and I see these girls telling they stories…
it breaks my heart, because I was once that girl like, somebody knows the truth.
Nobody gonna take up for me?
HILLARY: R. Kelly reportedly announced plans to sue Lifetime if the documentary aired.
He has denied all allegations.
HILLARY: But based on these recent revelations, there's probably more damning evidence on
the way.
HILLARY: I'm Hillary with Genius News bringing you the meaning and the knowledge behind the music.
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