After R. Kelly doc, alleged victims sought
Lady Gaga apologizes for collaboration, says she supports accusers
The fallout from a highly rated Lifetime docuseries detailing allegations against singer R. Kelly continues this week, with a prosecutor in Illinois now asking for any potential victims or witnesses to come forward.
“There is nothing to be done to investigate these allegations without the co-operation of both victims and witnesses,” Cook County district attorney Kim Foxx said at a news conference Tuesday. “We cannot seek justice without you.”
Meanwhile, Lady Gaga broke her silence on R. Kelly on Wednesday night, finally acknowledging the mounting allegations of sexual misconduct against the R&B singer and apologizing for her 2013 collaboration with him.
The A Star Is Born actress wrote on Twitter that she stood behind Kelly’s accusers and explained that when she chose to work with the “Ignition” singer, she was at a dark time in her life, as she struggled with the aftermath of her own sexual assault.
“The song is called ‘Do What U Want (With My Body),’ I think it’s clear how explicitly twisted my thinking was at the time,” Gaga shared, adding that she wished she could go back and encourage her younger self to seek the help she so clearly needed.
The “Poker Face” singer then announced her intent to remove the song from streaming services, including iTunes.
Though accusations of misconduct — including alleged sexual, mental and physical abuse of underage girls, some as young as 13 — have swirled around Kelly for nearly 25 years, the allegations found new life after Lifetime’s six-part docuseries aired last week. Kelly has denied the allegations.
Gaga also wrote about her long history of support for sexual assault survivors of all kinds, clarifying that she mentions it “not to make excuses for myself, but to explain.”
“Till it happens to you,” she continued, echoing the lyrics of her Oscar-nominated song from the campus rape documentary The Hunting Ground, “you don’t know how it feels.
“I’m sorry,” she concluded, “both for my poor judgment when I was young, and for not speaking out sooner.”
Surviving R. Kelly, which takes a sweeping look at the years of allegations against the singer, turned into one of the highestrated programs for Lifetime in more than two years:1.9 million people tuned in for the Jan. 3 premiere. The episodes sparked renewed interest in allegations against Kelly.