Social media turns up heat on Kelly
Grassroots movement aims at R&B singer accused of sex abuse
Is R. Kelly’s time up?
For more than 20 years, sexabuse allegations against Kelly have rumbled and reverberated across the United States. In the decade after he was acquitted of child-pornography charges, the Chicago-born R&B singer pushed ahead with his career — collaborating with A-list artists, amassing still more fans and earning millions from sold-out concerts.
Now the future of the Grammy-winning R&B singer’s career seems to be in question. The volume of social-media protests has been turned up in the past two weeks, and even Pitchfork Music Festival, which booked him as a headliner five years ago, is now saying the fest wouldn’t invite him back.
The turning point, some say, was Kelly’s cancelled hometown concert, set for May 5 until activists circulated a petition on social media protesting his appearance on the Love Jam 2018 bill.
Kelly has denied allegations of wrongdoing for years and has plenty of fans sticking by him. But while legal experts warn that you’re innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, activists are turning to the court of public opinion to seek what they view as some kind of justice. They are emboldened by the reach of the #MeToo movement that has forced Hollywood powerhouses, including Harvey Weinstein, Louis C.K. and Kevin Spacey, off their pedestals.
Last year, a group of AfricanAmerican women started #MuteRKelly, a grassroots effort to end Kelly’s career.
“I couldn’t figure out what it was going to take to stop this,” Oronike Odeleye, one of the organizers behind the #MuteRKelly campaign, told the Tribune this week. “We can’t seem to get him in court, why don’t we just stop giving him our money?”
This week, #MuteRKelly got a boost when Time’s Up — an initiative with Hollywood stars in its ranks that seeks to end sexual harassment in the workplace — called on ticket brokers, music-sharing companies and concert venues to boycott the singer. Some of the most powerful African-American women in film and television tweeted out #MuteRKelly, including Chicago native and The Chi creator Lena Waithe, Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay and TV mogul Shonda Rhimes. Kelly’s management team called the Time’s Up campaign to boycott him a “malicious conspiracy,” but the singer seems to be carrying on. Even though he’s no longer part of the lineup for the UIC concert Saturday, Kelly invited Chicago fans via social media to “join me” for the “official concert after party” — at the Ocean’s Gentleman’s Club, a strip club in Bedford Park. His management team did not respond to requests for comment.
And his next gig, which is set for May 11 in North Carolina, is still on.
As Kelly charges ahead, the #MuteRKelly campaign plans to do the same. Here are four takeaways from the growing controversy. 1. The power of a hashtag: Social media revolt Tarana Burke created the #MeToo movement long before there was a hashtag. The resulting social media tide of stories about harassment and assault that followed the explosive reports on Weinstein brought the experiences of victims into the national spotlight. The movement also sparked new campaigns, including the #MuteRKelly effort.
Among the creators of the #MuteRKelly hashtag were Odeleye and social justice activist Kenyette Barnes. The hash- tag took hold last year following a BuzzFeed report about a group of parents who alleged the singer was holding their daughters in an abusive “cult.” Odeleye says she was shocked by the allegations and proceeded to read up on years of Chicago journalist Jim DeRogatis’ stories about Kelly’s alleged sexual misconduct. The BuzzFeed story alleges that the women were being kept in homes in Chicago and the Atlanta suburbs, which Kelly has denied.
“He (Kelly) was right here in the metro Atlanta area where I live,” Odeleye says. “That was the first time it felt like it was happening to real people in a real place.”
The reach of the #MuteRKelly campaign has steadily grown, but it gained traction in Chicago in recent days when a new group of activists — again African-American women — called on school administrators to cancel Kelly’s Saturday night performance at the UIC Pavilion. Hours after the Chicago Tribune posted a story about the petition, Ticketmaster announced he was no longer performing, though the show would still go on with the other acts. UIC officials have never said why he was off the bill, and on social media Kelly vaguely attributed the cancellation to “rumours.”
On Monday, after the cancellation, Time’s Up — which has its own hashtag and presence on social media — called for a larger protest of the singer.
“It has all coalesced in this moment, but it’s been a slow road to justice for R. Kelly,” says Odeleye. “And we’re still not there.” 2. Will court of public opinion have any sway Kelly, 51, was acquitted of child pornography charges by a Cook County jury; during the trial, prosecutors offered a videotape they alleged showed Kelly having sex with a girl estimated to be between 13 and 14 years old. The alleged victim declined to testify.
But that hasn’t stopped journalists and public figures from questioning his relationships with other young women, from his 1994 marriage to then-15year-old singer Aaliyah to the more recent BuzzFeed allegations.
Deborah Tuerkheimer, a professor of law at Northwestern University who has handled domestic violence cases, sees women calling Kelly out as a response to what they see as the failures of the criminal justice system.
“The court of opinion is an alternate way of getting accountability and also a way of galvanizing a more formal method,” she says.
Tuerkheimer says when you go with the fair weight of accusations, it’s reasonable to decide, “I don’t want to buy his music.”
Time’s Up called out RCA Records, Ticketmaster, Spotify and Apple Music for their roles in promoting Kelly’s music. They also blasted North Carolina’s Greensboro Coliseum Complex for hosting the coming concert. A representative of the Greensboro Coliseum Complex declined to comment. Ticketmaster, RCA, Spotify and Apple Music did not return requests for comment. 3. The weight of a “public lynching” Kelly says the attempted boycott is rooted in age-old racism, pointing to the history of African-Americans being lynched in this country. It echoes comments Bill Cosby’s publicist made last week after the comedian and actor was convicted on sexual assault charges.
“Since America was born, black men and women have been lynched for having sex or for being accused of it,” an emailed statement from Kelly’s management responding to the Time’s Up call to action said. “We will vigorously resist this attempted public lynching of a black man who has made extraordinary contributions to our culture.”
“In terms of a PR response, I thought it was masterful,” says Odeleye. “Because it plays right into the narrative that the African-American community likes to fall back on when rich and powerful African-American men are brought to task by the society at large.”
Odeleye says evoking the lynching imagery is a disgrace to the African-American men who were actually lynched. Furthermore, the practice was rooted in racism — and carried out by white Americans. In this moment, many voices rising up against Kelly are black women.
And, says Odeleye: “A petition is not a lynching. A public criticism of your act is not a lynching. Being asked for an investigation to be conducted is not a lynching.” 4. Some concerts cancelled, other shows go on Up to now, it’s difficult to know how much Kelly’s scandals have affected his career.
Following the BuzzFeed article, Kelly cancelled a number of concerts amid rumours. The #MuteRKelly movement is taking credit for him cancelling 10 recent shows. But this week, fans were still sending Kelly messages of support on Instagram, telling him to “stay focused” and declaring themselves “fans for life.”
The music industry has been slower to respond to the #MeToo movement than the film and television industry, whose high-profile victims have largely been white women.
Asked whether Pitchfork Music Festival would have Kelly perform again, following the call from Time’s Up and the #MuteRKelly movement, a spokesperson told the Tribune in an emailed statement: “No we wouldn’t. And we would not consider him for a future booking.”
Lollapalooza, along with local promoter Jam Productions, did not respond to a request for comment. Five Star Empire — the promoter listed on the materials for Kelly’s UIC concert and a concert in Greensboro — would not comment.
Kalimah Johnson, executive director of the SASHA Center for sexual assault services and awareness in Detroit and an early organizer of #MuteRKelly, sees Kelly’s continued work in the industry as a combination of victim blaming and how African-American women’s lives can be devalued.
“He (Kelly) hasn’t been dealt with because he’s primarily hurt black women who don’t have any resources,” says Johnson.