"Please come forward. There is nothing that can be done to investigate these allegations without the cooperation of victims and witnesses."
R. Kelly could be facing an investigation in Georgia after the airing of a Lifetime documentary series that chronicled allegations of abuse, predatory behaviour and paedophilia against the singer.
Gerald Griggs, an attorney for the family of Joycelyn Savage, one of the women featured in Surviving R. Kelly, said the Fulton County District Attorney reached out to Griggs a few days ago, after the show aired.
He's also been the focus, for over a decade, of accusations and sometimes charges of sexual misconduct and abuse. He went to court in 2008 to defend himself against charges of making a sex tape with an underage girl. He was legally acquitted, but many observers remained convinced of his guilt and believed the stories told by women like Lisa Van Allen, who testified that she had sex with Kelly before turning 18.
Still, Kelly's superstar musical career more or less continued with little interruption. His 33-chapter hip-hop opera Trapped in the Closet was widely watched and discussed, he performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, he sang at Whitney Houston's memorial, he appeared on a Lady Gaga album, and he continued to sell lots of concert tickets and get plenty of airplay — even as victims' advocates and some journalists continued to share stories of abuse.
The most recent round of accusations might at first have sounded almost too outlandish to be true: a 2017 BuzzFeed article by Jim DeRogatis detailed allegations that Kelly was holding women in an abusive sex cult. The women's families, unable to extract or even contact their daughters in some cases, were going public with their pleas for Kelly to be investigated.
Around that time, far too late according to many who had been following these stories, the broader cultural narrative around R. Kelly began to change. Amid the broader #MeToo movement, a #MuteRKelly campaign last year encouraged DJs and ordinary listeners to stop playing Kelly's music on the radio, at parties, or anywhere.
Then, last week, Lifetime debuted a six-part investigative documentary series that saw blockbuster ratings. The documentary features numerous women and former associates and acquaintances, including fellow stars like John Legend, describing a long-term pattern of mental, physical, and sexual abuse against young women who, allegedly, are controlled by Kelly and sometimes have to ask his permission even to use the bathroom.
In 2017, he was accused of having a sexual relationship with a teen. At the time, Kelly's publicist denied previous allegations, saying they were "made up by individuals known to be dishonest."
During a screening of the documentary in December, the theater was evacuated after the venue received a threatening phone call that turned out to be noncredible. Attendees of the screening included Kelly's accusers and prominent social justice activists depicted in the film.