Chicago hip hop star Chance the Rapper, real name Chancelor Jonathan Bennett, was taken aback by the Lifetime three-part docu-series, Surviving R. Kelly, and now he regrets working with the controversial R&B legend.
To highlight some of their collaborative history, In 2014, Chance brought R. Kelly out as a surprise guest during his Lollapalooza set, telling eventgoers, “Make some noise for the Pied Piper of R&B.” The following year, Chance the Rapper made a cameo in Kelly’s “Backyard Party” video and collaborated with the singer on “Somewhere in Paradise.”
Their working relationship came to an end after Chance appeared in an interview where he says he regretted working with Kelly.
Rolling Stone originally reported that Chance said, “Making a song with R. Kelly was a mistake. I didn’t value the accusers’ stories because they were black women.” He later tweeted, “the quote was taken out of context,” along with the footage of the interview. The tweet continues, “the truth is any of us who ever ignored the R Kelly stories, or ever believed he was being setup/attacked by the system (as black men often are) were doing so at the detriment of black women and girls. I apologize to all of his survivors for working with him and for taking this long to speak out.”
He continued: “We’re programmed to really be hypersensitive to black male oppression. It’s just prevalent in all media, and when you see n***as getting beat up by the police, it’s men. That’s a scene you see…slavery for a lot of people, they envision men in chains, but black women are exponentially a higher oppressed and violated group of people just in comparison to the whole world. Maybe I didn’t care because I didn’t value the accusers’ stories because they were black women.”
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) January 6, 2019
Chance is happy people are now listening to black women making allegations of abuse.
As we already reported, R&B veteran John Legend was the biggest name artist to appear in the Surviving R. Kelly doc. “I believe these women and don’t give a **** about protecting a serial child rapist. Easy decision,” he stated in the clip.
Kelly, who was acquitted on child pornography charges in 2008, has been accused of engaging in sexually and emotionally abusive relationships with young women, some of whom were allegedly underage. The new documentary features interviews with former girlfriends, associates, and his ex-wife Andrea Kelly, as well as Legend and singer Stephanie ‘Sparkle’ Edwards.
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) January 6, 2019
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