THE NUDIST, LADY GAGA HIRED TO ACCUSE R. KELLY - CNN
Lady Gaga once defended her 2013
collaboration with singer R. Kelly by pointing to the "bond" they
shared over "very untrue things written about us."
But in the wake of a recent Lifetime
documentary series that chronicles allegations of abuse, predatory behavior and
pedophilia against Kelly, Gaga is now facing pressure to condemn him. Kelly has
strongly denied the allegations.
Celebrities Respond to "Surveying R. Kelly"
Gaga's single "Do What U Want"
featured vocals by Kelly, a move that was controversial when it released nearly
six years ago because the R&B singer had stood trial in Chicago on child
pornography charges in 2008. Kelly was acquitted.
During a press conference in Japan in 2013, Gaga explained their
partnership on the song.
"R. Kelly and I have sometimes very
untrue things written about us, so in a way this was a bond between us,"
she said. "That we were able to say, the public, they can have our bodies,
but they cannot have our mind or our heart. It was a really natural collaboration."
The pair also performed a sexually
provocative duet on "Saturday Night Live" at the time.
Earlier this week, "The Karen Hunter show" on SiriusXM aired an interview with "Surveying R. Kelly" documentary series producer, Dream Hampton, who
named Gaga as a person she wished she could have spoken to for her project.
"I wanted to know how Lady Gaga could be
on 'SNL' with him as someone who advocates for domestic abuse survivors and
was, you know, had this ridiculous performance with him on 'SNL," Hampton
said.
There had already been an outcry for Gaga,
who has been a proponent of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, to speak out
against Kelly and those calls increased after Hampton's remarks.
"@ladygaga, please be ready to answer
questions about #SurvivingRKelly at the #Golden Globes today," writer
Ernest Jones tweeted Sunday. "Your silence on this has spoken
volumes."
CNN has reached out to reps for Gaga for
comment.
Hampton declined to comment further to CNN.
"Surviving R. Kelly" aired over
three nights on Lifetime and has renewed interest in allegations against Kelly.
'Surveyin R. Kelly' spurs follow-up calls from DA, attorney for alleged victim's family says
Time's Up has supported the #MuteRKelly
social media movement and on Wednesday shared a statement regarding the singer
with CNN.
"In July of 2017, the resurgence of
sexual abuse allegations against R. Kelly prompted Atlanta Arts Administrator,
Oronike Odeleye to start a petition to get R. Kelly's music off Atlanta
airwaves," the statement read. "In the spring of 2018, we joined the
fight to #MuteRKelly. We cannot condone profiting off the trauma of Black girls
and women. TIME'S UP calls on any organization still in business with R. Kelly
to cut ties immediately. All allies in the fight against sexual violence must
take a stand on this issue, and stand together in defense of women of color."
On Tuesday, a Chicago prosecutor said her
office has been in touch with two families related to allegations against Kelly
since the series aired.
Cook County State's Attorney Kimberly Foxx
also urged potential victims or witnesses to speak to police.
"Please come forward. There is nothing
that can be done to investigate these allegations without the cooperation of
victims and witnesses," Foxx said during a news conference. "We
cannot seek justice without you."
But Kelly's lawyer said the state's attorney's
call for people to come forward was "ridiculous."
"There's nothing there," attorney
Steve Greenberg said. "When you fish for this kind of stuff the riff raff
come out and you end up with wrongful accusations."
Gerald Griggs, an attorney for the family of
Joycelyn Savage, one of the women featured in "Surviving R. Kelly,"
said Tuesday the Fulton County District Attorney reached out to Griggs after
the show aired and is conducting an investigation into Kelly.
Savage's family has claimed she is having a sexual
relationship with Kelly, and that she is being manipulated by him into cutting
off contact with the outside world.
Her father says they haven't heard from her
in about two years.
Savage responded to this claim in a video
released in 2017, in which she denied she's being held and that she had been
brainwashed by the Grammy-award winning singer.
"I just want everybody to know -- my
parents and everybody in the world -- that I'm totally fine. I'm happy where
I'm at and everything is OK with me," she said in the video.
Chris Hopper, the public information officer
for the Fulton County DA, said he had "no comment" after being asked
if there was an open investigation of Kelly in Georgia.
Gaga has been outspoken in the past in her
support of sexual assault victims and went public as a rape survivor in 2014.
The superstar performed "Til It Happens
to You," the Oscar-nominated song she co-wrote with Diane Warren for
"The Hunting Ground," a CNN documentary about rape and assault on
college campuses, at the 2016 Academy Awards.
Vice President Joe Biden introduced Gaga's
emotional performance, and she was joined onstage by other sexual assault
survivors.
Gaga told Howard Stern in 2014 that she was
19 when an older man took advantage of her and that she never confronted him.
"I thought it was my fault for ten
years," she wrote in an Istagram post in 2016. "The morning
after the Oscars when I talked to my grandmother Ronnie, with tears in her eyes
I could hear them welling through the phone she said to me 'My darling
granddaughter, I've never been more proud of you than I am today.


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