R. Kelly doc followup boosts assault hotline

The first instalment of last year’s Lifetime docu-series Surviving R. Kelly accomplished what decades of reporting, legal action and often-overlooked public outcry did not: New charges and incarceration for the singer, who has had dozens of allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against him over the past 25 years. While Kelly, shown, awaits trial — on multiple charges in three U.S. states — in a jail outside Chicago, Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning, which brings forward even more accusers and recaps the events of the past year, aired on Lifetime in three episodes on Jan. 2 to 4 — prompting a 40-per-cent increase in calls to the national sexual assault hotline, says the U.S. Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. “We are proud to have partnered with Lifetime on this project,” said RAINN’S Erinn Robinson. Variety. com