Just a few weeks after R. Kelly was indicted with ten charges of criminal sexual abuse, he broke his silence in an interview with CBS This Morning's Gayle King.
During the discussion, Kelly broke into tears as he refuted the accusations, dismissing them as rumors. He claimed he was the victim and that the allegations were falsified.
When King confronted him about his purported relations with underage girls, Kelly suggested everyone is just trying to make him look bad.
"People are going back to my past, ok? That’s exactly what they’re doing," he declared. "They’re going back to the past, and they’re trying to add all of this stuff now to that to make all of the stuff that’s going on now feel real to people."
King was quick to remind him history doesn't play in his favor. In 2002, the singer was indicted on multiple counts of child pornography, but he was acquitted.
"For one, I beat my case," he responded. "You can’t ‘double jeopardy’ me like that. You can’t. It’s not fair. It’s not fair to nobody. When you beat your case, you beat your case."
So King pointed out another crop of allegations and recounted the rumors of his abuse.
"Not true, not true!" Kelly exclaimed. "Whether they're old rumors, new rumors, future rumors, not true!"
In the second part of the interview, things got heated. When King brought up the rumors he'd held girls hostage, Kelly had a full-on breakdown.
"I don’t need to. Why would I? How stupid would it be for R. Kelly, with all I’ve been through in my way, way past, to hold somebody, let alone four, five, six, 50, you said... how stupid would I be to do that? That’s stupid, guys!" he said.
"That's stupid! Use your common sense," Kelly exclaimed. "Forget the blogs, forget how you feel about me. Hate me if you want to, love me if you want. But just use your common sense. How stupid would it be for me, with my crazy past and what I’ve been through… oh right now I just think I need to be a monster, hold girls against their will, chain them up in my basement, and don’t let them eat, don’t let them out, unless they need some shoes down the street from their uncle!"
No longer able to contain his emotions, Kelly burst into tears and begged the public not to believe the claims.
"Stop it! You all quit playing," he said. "I didn’t do this stuff! This is not me! I am fighting for my f****ing life!"
Kelly was charged with ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four victims in February 2019, three of whom were minors. He plead not guilty and was released on bail. His arrest arrived on the heels of Lifetime's docu-series, Surviving R. Kelly, in which his victims came forward about the abuse they experienced with the singer.
The full interview will air on CBS This Morning on Wednesday, March 6.
