Demonstrators from groups including Black Women's Blueprint, Care2 and Color of Change have gathered outside of Sony Music HQ in New York to deliver a signed petition.
- Jan 17, 2019
AceShowbiz - Protesters gathered outside embattled singer R. Kelly's record label offices in New York on Wednesday, January 16, to call for Sony Music executives to drop him.
The "I Believe I Can Fly" hitmaker has been in and out of the headlines for the past few weeks thanks to the release of documentary "Surviving R. Kelly", which chronicled the accounts of women who allege they were physically and sexually abused by the 52-year-old.
Kelly is also accused of carrying on relationships with underage girls, but he has denied all allegations against him.
The ongoing allegations sparked a movement to "mute" Kelly last year, and on Wednesday protesters from groups including Black Women's Blueprint, Care2, and Color of Change delivered a signed petition demanding the singer be dropped.
“YOU did nothing to cause this violence.” -@BlackWomensBP’s Sharaya Tindal to survivors #MuteRKelly#DropRKellypic.twitter.com/4UoFisTiti
— UltraViolet (@UltraViolet) 16 January 2019
"Lifetime's 'Surviving R. Kelly' is an unignorable investigation into R. Kelly's decades of alleged sexual abuse of young Black women and girls, and those in the music industry that have not only enabled him, but profited from him," a statement reads. "R. Kelly has been able to continue to prey on vulnerable Black girls for so long because companies like RCA - his record label - provide him a revenue stream to maintain his sex trafficking operation and a veneer of public credibility."
"With the seriousness of these numerous allegations and their overwhelming credibility, it's past time for RCA and their parent company, Sony, to take a stand and drop R. Kelly from their record label. No company should be profiting from a man who physically, mentally, and sexually abuses Black girls."
WATCH NOW: Black women and allies deliver more than a hundred thousand petition signatures to @RCARecords headquarters to demand they #DropRKelly. https://t.co/lon5SV0fSOpic.twitter.com/CKuKekC0wP
— ColorOfChange.org (@ColorOfChange) 16 January 2019
Representative from Sony and RCA have yet to respond to the groups' protest.
