R. Kelly’s accusers are speaking out with their reactions to his explosive CBS This Morning interview with Gayle King.
King interviewed Kelly earlier this week about the 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse he was charged with in February. Kelly denied the claims through a tearful outburst in which he screamed, cursed, and cried while claiming his innocence. His accusers revealed to CBS This Morning how hard the interview was to watch — in fact, some weren’t even able to watch it.
“When he started screaming it terrified me,” Asante McGee, one of R. Kelly's accusers, said. “So when he started screaming I immediately turned the TV [off] because again I felt like I was revisiting him yelling at me."
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McGee claims she experienced mental and sexual abuse while she lived with Kelly for three weeks. She said didn’t see any sincerity in his interview.
“There was nothing I felt sorry about him for because I know the type of monster he is,” McGee said. “I know he will cry at the drop of a dime. He is a great performer.”
Michelle Kramer, the mother of Dominique Gardner, another Kelly accuser, told CBS that her daughter almost threw the remote at the TV watching parts of the interview. Kramer was only able to watch parts of it.
“Everything he said when he jumped up she was like she remembered the rage when she wouldn’t do what he asked her to do, or tell her to do, or he’d get upset about something — ‘You walk too slow,’ ‘You did’ whatever, and it was a punishment,” Kramer said.
In the Lifetime docu-series Surviving R. Kelly, Kramer tracked down her daughter at a hotel where she was staying with Kelly. In this recent interview, she alluded to not only the sexual abuse Kelly is accused of but claims that he starved the girls as well. “When my daughter came home she was 98 pounds. When she left to be with him she was 125,” Kramer said.
In King’s interview she brought up Kramer’s claims to Kelly, who vehemently denied them, but Kramer simply said, “It’s true.”
While Kramer and McGee don’t feel sorry for Kelly, Kitti Jones, another accuser, said she felt sad watching the interview.
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“I cried because I still saw the person that I fell in love with and I couldn’t help but wonder, why didn’t someone step in help him earlier?” Jones said.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
If you have experienced sexual violence of any kind, please visit Rape Crisis or call 0808 802 9999.