NEW YORK: A woman who sued R. Kelly accusing the American R&B star of sexual battery, knowingly infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease, and false imprisonment says he has threatened her.
High-profile women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred told reporters on Monday that her client Faith Rodgers, 20, faced “efforts to intimidate and retaliate” from Kelly after she filed the lawsuit now pending in New York’s Supreme Court.
And just after Rodgers testified in the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” that aired this month, her lawyers say Kelly, 51, and his team created a Facebook page — which the social media giant removed within hours — in an effort to discredit his accusers including Rodgers, posting “private” photos of her.
Rodgers’ team also said Kelly wrote to her attorney Lydia Hills saying he was prepared to demand medical evidence to support her claim about the STD and that he would challenge her version of events by putting up male witnesses who would testify under oath about her sex life.
R. Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, told AFP the letter allegedly sent by the singer was “a complete fabrication.”
Rodgers filed the lawsuit in May, slightly over a year after she says she met the singer — known for hits including “I Believe I Can Fly” and “Ignition” — following a concert in San Antonio, Texas.
She says Kelly initiated “non-permissive, painful and abusive sex” and failed to inform her he had the incurable virus herpes, which she says she then contracted.
“Taking a stand against R. Kelly, someone who has been termed ‘the King of R&B’ and is loved by many has not been easy,” Rodgers said Monday.
“I decided after a great deal of thought that I should speak my truth,” she said.
Asked what she would say to the singer today, Rodgers said: “Time’s up.”
Her mother, Kelly Rodgers, said she and her husband had also received threats and intimidation attempts.
Allred, who represents three women with accusations against Kelly, said she and Rodgers were meeting the New York Police Department later Monday to discuss the investigation.
“Mr Kelly, you may soon join the ranks of Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein,” Allred said, referring to the TV icon and movie mogul felled by sexual misconduct accusations.
“You can look forward to a legacy which will not be your music, but rather the pain and suffering you inflicted on the many vulnerable teenagers and young women who claim they were victimized by you.”
Since the six-part documentary detailing allegations against Kelly premiered, multiple artists have apologized for working with him, including Lady Gaga, Nick Cannon and Chance the Rapper.
Woman suing R. Kelly for sex abuse says singer threatened her
Woman suing R. Kelly for sex abuse says singer threatened her
- Rodgers testified in the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” that aired this month
- Since the six-part documentary detailing allegations against Kelly premiered, multiple artists have apologized for working with him
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
