TV helped take down R. Kelly after the music industry coddled him

Los Angeles Times

"R. Kelly often seemed invincible" before a federal jury convicted the R&B star Monday of racketeering and sex trafficking after decades of allegations he sexually abused underage girls, says Lorraine Ali. "Much like the record business that profited off the superstar’s talent, Kelly, 54, appeared up until this week to be immune to the reckoning that toppled Hollywood titans like Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein," says Ali. "Now he’s the highest-profile musician unseated by the #MeToo movement and one of only a few artists held accountable in an industry rife with abusers and enablers. From famous performers to high-profile power brokers, the music business is still sheltering its abusers like it’s 1999. Despite Kelly’s marriage to a 15-year-old when he was 27, the videotape circulated of him urinating on a 14-year-old girl during a sex act, and year after year of underage survivors alleging rape, imprisonment and worse against the artist, he continued to sell millions of albums, fill arenas, garner Grammy nominations and work with contemporaries like Lady Gaga, Chance the Rapper and Celine Dion. So it makes sense that television, not the music biz, finally took Kelly down. The 2019 Lifetime docuseries Surviving R. Kelly and its follow-up, 2020’s Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning marked the end to years of Kelly operating with impunity. Together they made a case against the artist largely off the power of firsthand accounts from his accusers, many of whom hadn’t told their stories publicly before appearing on the production. The fallout from the documentary was swift. RCA Records finally dropped Kelly, and within weeks a grand jury in Cook County, Ill., indicted him on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Nine of those counts identified the victims as 13 to 16 years old. Gayle King’s explosive interview with Kelly was the next blow." Ali adds: "The music industry offered the perfect playground in which to operate. Kelly was insulated by the adoration of zealous fans, critical accolades and public apathy. Debauchery is part and parcel of pop stardom, right?" One of the brave women who spoke out in Surviving R. Kelly was Jerhonda Pace, who went on to testify at Kelly's trial. “Today my voice was heard,” she wrote on Instagram following the verdict. “For years, I was trolled for speaking out about the abuse that I suffered at the hands of that predator. People called me a liar and said I had no proof. Some even said I was speaking out for money. Speaking out about abuse is not easy, especially when your abuser is high-profile.” Ali adds: "Television doesn’t make speaking out any easier, of course. But in Kelly’s case, as Monday’s conviction shows, it was instrumental in making voices like Pace’s come through loud and clear." ALSO: Surviving R. Kelly executive producer dream hampton calls the guilty verdict a "step in the right direction" that will help survivors "get their lives back."