New York Daily News

Give R. Kelly the boot – protesters

- BY WES PARNELL AND LARRY MCSHANE

More than 200,000 angry letters urging R. Kelly’s record label to dump the platinumse­lling star were hand-delivered Wednesday to its Manhattan offices.

Demonstrat­ors carried boxes and boxes filled with the missives into the building that houses Sony Music Entertainm­ent’s RCA Records after speakers blasted the company for its continued ties to Kelly.

“We are here today to tell RCA to drop R. Kelly immediatel­y,” speaker Sonja Spoo told about 30 fellow demonstrat­ors. “We are here today to bring the fight to RCA’s doorstep.

“For years, they have allowed the systematic abuse of black women.”

Attention has focused once again on Kelly’s alleged sexual abuse of underage African-American women after the Lifetime network recently aired a six-part documentar­y on the sordid subject.

The boxes containing the calls for his dismissal were marked “#Mute R. Kelly” and “RCA Records: Drop Sexual Predator R. Kelly.”

Natalie Green of the anti-sexism group Ultra Violet called RCA’s continued alliance with the Grammywinn­ing Kelly an insult to black women.

“Anything less than dropping R. Kelly makes you an accomplice,” said Green. “You are profiting from sexual abuse. You are profiting from the pain of black girls.”

The protesters gathered on the street outside Sony Music’s Madison Ave. offices before bringing the boxes inside the building. Security kicked the demonstrat­ors out once they deposited the boxes.

“RCA, you’re to blame, stop protecting R. Kelly’s fame!” the group chanted before heading inside.

Sharaya Tindal Wiesendang­er read aloud from a letter she composed for the survivors of sexual abuse.

“Our prayer is that you know and understand that you did nothing to deserve this violence,” she read. “Sisters, you are not alone. We fight for you and us.”

An email to RCA Records for a response to the protest was not immediatel­y returned.

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