‘I’m not Lucifer’ R. Kelly declares in explosive response to sexual abuse charges
Iconic R&B singer-songwriter R. Kelly pushed back against aggravated criminal sexual abuse charges in an interview Wednesday, calling his multiple accusers liars who've painted him to look like the devil and a monster.
"They was describing Lucifer. I'm not Lucifer. I'm a man. I make mistakes, but I'm not a devil, and by no means am I a monster," Kelly told "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King in an interview that aired Wednesday morning.
Kelly was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse by Chicago prosecutors last month, CBS News reported.
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In "Surviving R. Kelly," a six-part Lifetime documentary, filmmakers interviewed more than 50 people, including the singer's ex-wife, numerous women, their family members and his former tour manager who all claimed R. Kelly abused them.
"Are you saying everybody in that documentary was not telling the truth about you? Everybody?" King asked.
"They are lying on me," Kelly said.
"Why would these women say the same thing about you? That you are controlling, that you are abusive, that you tell women when to eat, when to go to the bathroom, when they can sleep, where they can dress?" King pressed. "Why would all these women tell these different stories about you if they were not true and they don't know each other? That defies logic to me."
“Stop it. You all quit playing! Quit playing! I didn't do this stuff! This is not me! I'm fighting for my f***ing life! Y'all killing me with this sh*t!" @RKelly told @GayleKing, standing up. "I gave you 30 years of my f***ing career!"https://t.co/u4AENVJQscpic.twitter.com/jLF7l8etYh
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 6, 2019
"Right. Right. Until you hear the explanation. You can start a rumor on a guy like me or a celebrity just like that," Kelly replied. "All you have to do is push a button on your phone and say so and so did this to me, R. Kelly did this to me. And if you get any traction from that, if you're able to write a book from that, if you're able to get a reality show … then any girl that I had a relationship [with] in the past that it just didn't work out, she can come and say the same exact thing."
In 2008, Kelly was found not guilty on 14 counts of child pornography after prosecutors in Chicago failed to convince a jury that he was the man seen in a sex tape with a girl as young as 13.
Last month, Kelly was indicted again, this time he was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of four women, including three who the charges say were minors at the time.
Kelly denied having sex with anyone under the age of 17 since then.
"No. No," Kelly said. “… I have been assassinated. I have been buried alive. But I'm alive."
Kelly, who reportedly sat with King for nearly 80 minutes on Tuesday, got visibly emotional when responding to allegations that he had also held women against their will.
"That's stupid! Use your common sense. 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 have to be monster, and 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!" he said.
"Stop it. You all quit playing! Quit playing! I didn't do this stuff! This is not me! I'm fighting for my f---ing life! Y'all killing me with this s--t!" Kelly continued during his emotional defense of himself.
"Thirty years of my career! And y'all trying to kill me? You killing me, man! This is not about music! I'm trying to have a relationship with my kids! And I can't do it! Y'all just don't want to believe the truth! You don't want to believe it!" Kelly insisted.
