R. Kelly, who was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four victims — three of whom were minors — earlier this month, aggressively denied any wrongdoing in an emotional interview with Gayle King on “CBS This Morning.” At times the singer — who, as detailed in the recent docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly,” has multiple accusations of sexual misconduct dating back 25 years — wept, yelled, stood up and violently waved his arms. Asked by King if, as some have alleged, whether he is holding women captive against their will, he addressed the camera directly and shouted:
“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 need to be 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!”
At another point, he said, “I’m a man. I make mistakes, but I’m not a devil, and by no means am I a monster.” And at another: “I’ve been assassinated; I’ve been buried alive. But I’m alive.”
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At times Kelly, who was dressed in a somber grey suit, became so heated and animated that King’s co-hosts said after watching the interview that they were concerned for her safety. “I felt I might get accidentally clobbered,” King said, “but I never felt in danger.”
Other excerpts from the 80-minute interview were released on Tuesday night; another segment will air on Thursday, and on Friday the show sits down with two of the women alleged to be held against their will — in a brief excerpt, one of them is seen weeping and saying, “You guys don’t know the truth, this is all lies for money and if you can’t see that you’re stupid.” The women, one of whom is Joycelyn Savage, whose parents have made strong allegations agains Kelly, said they both live with the singer in a sexual relationship.
In previously unaired footage on Wednesday morning, King engaged in an at times heated exchange with the singer (lightly edited below).
King: Have you ever had sex with anyone under the age of 17?
Kelly: No.
King: So all of these women are lying?
Kelly: Absolutely.
King: Do you think people should still buy your music?
Kelly: Absolutely, I think they should, although (he nods, equivocating) a lot of them may not. I’m not really fighting for my career here — I’m fighting for my rights and I’m fighting to have a relationship with my kids, more than anything because I missed a lot of years of their life. They love me, I love them,” he welled up.
Kelly is estranged from his three children from his 10-year marriage to Drea Kelly, who is among the accusers featured in “Surviving R. Kelly.”
King: Do they want a relationship with you?
Kelly: I bet you they do. I bet my breath one it. [But] they’re pressured [not to see him], and I get it.
King: What would you do if someone did to your daughters what people say you’ve done to young women?
Kelly: I’d be up in that motherf —-, f—ing everything up — I had to bleep myself there. I would have to arrest myself after I did what I had to do.
King: You’ve said many times that you were sexually abused from the ages of 7 to 14. How has that affected you?
Kelly: It hasn’t affected me at all [he immediately reverses himself], it has affected me in this way: anything I’ve been through or struggles I’ve had in the past has affected my music.
King: It hasn’t affected your behavior?
Kelly: Absolutely not. I know people will say ‘He was abused, that’s why he doing that,’ but no no no no no.
King: Experts say that abusers were often abused themselves.
Kelly: That’s what the experts said? They said they all did it?
King: No, not all, but a lot do.
Kelly: No? here I stand, I’m in the “not all” [category]. But they also didn’t say when you’re R. Kelly and you’re famous and your named is ringing 25 million times across the world every day and people are trying to get money from you, they’re using the past to link it onto that, they’re using that…
King: You’ve said you need help in some form of therapy?
Kelly: Absolutely, at this point I’m definitely talking about that.
King: People have said you’re out of touch with the seriousness of the allegations against you.
Kelly: I have the truth. People have perception.
King: Do you think you’re invincible?
Kelly: Absolutely not, I just think I’m human.
The interview continues on “CBS This Morning” tomorrow.