Several key members of R. Kelly’s team have ceased working with the singer in the wake of new damning sexual misconduct allegations that surfaced earlier this week.
Kelly’s spokesperson Trepan Kutti confirmed to Pitchfork that she no longer works with the R&B singer as of April 16. BBC3 reports that Kelly’s entertainment attorney, Linda Mensch, and assistant, Diana Copeland, have jumped ship as well. Mensch confirmed her exit to Pitchfork.
The exodus follows new allegations from a Dallas woman who claimed Kelly knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease while they were in a relationship that began when she was 19. The woman also told the Root that Kelly “groomed her to be his sex pet, complete with dehumanizing requirements including being called ‘his bitch’ in public, group sex, and long periods of isolation.”
She began taking legal action against the 51-year-old singer earlier this month.
BBC3 illuminated similar accusations in a recent documentary, R Kelly: Sex, Girls & Videotapes, in which former girlfriend Kitty Jones claims the singer introduced her to a girl he had allegedly “trained” since she was 14-years-old. Jones said the two women shared the same mannerisms, and that Kelly had been “grooming me to become one of his pets.”
Kelly’s protracted fall from grace has sped up in the past year, jumpstarted by a BuzzFeed report from last summer alleging the singer held several women in a sex “cult.” Subsequently, sluggish ticket sales for his After Party tour resulted in several canceled shows.
Just last weekend, 24-year-old rapper Vince Staples criticized the singer during an interview at Coachella, calling him a “piece of fucking shit” and “child molester.”
Kelly’s legal team apparently followed the three-strikes rule, and now the “Ignition” singer is out.
H/T the Root