Singer R. Kelly, who’s no stranger to allegations of improper sexual conduct with minors, underwent an in-depth interview with GQ, covering a lot of topics ranging from sexual abuse he experienced as a child to his being found not guilty of child pornography charges.
Most striking, however, were Kelly’s comments about former TV icon Bill Cosby, who’s currently facing a trial for the alleged sexual assault and drugging of Canadian woman Andrea Constand. R. Kelly has sympathy for the actor, and believes the 50+ women accusing Cosby are suspect because of the time they’ve taken to accuse him.
Kelly insists that Cosby was an idol for him growing up, and he emulated his parenting style — assuming Kelly means Dr. Cliff Huxtable’s parenting style on The Cosby Show — when he had his own children.
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The GQ interviewer pushes the line of questioning further, asking Kelly “But don’t you think that if they’re telling the truth, it doesn’t matter how long ago it was?”
READ MORE: Bill Cosby charged in 2004 sexual assault case involving Canadian woman
“If God showed me that they were telling the truth, I would say that’s wrong,” Kelly replied. “When you wait 70 years, 50 years, 40 years, to say something that simple, it’s strange. You know why I say that is because it happened to me, and it wasn’t true.”
Kelly is referring to the numerous charges that have been brought against him during his long career.
Kelly was indicted on charges of child pornography in 2002 after a leaked video showed him having sex with a female minor. He was arrested in 2003 and found not guilty in 2008. Numerous sexual abuse allegations with other minors have dogged him throughout his career.
WATCH: Comedian Eddie Griffin defends Bill Cosby during interview
“When a person is found not guilty, they’re found not guilty. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a murder case, it doesn’t matter what case it is, when they’re found not guilty, they’re not guilty,” he said. “And I think that a lot of haters out there wanted to see me go down.”
Kelly famously married R&B singer Aaliyah when he was 28 and she was only 15. (At the time, Aaliyah lied about her age. On the marriage licence, it lists her age as 18.)
The marriage lasted for about seven months, and was dissolved when her parents had it annulled in 1995.