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A recent video of R. Kelly has surfaced, in which the singer tells a room full of people that it is “too late” for his musical influence to be stopped and for people to silence him.
The video was originally uploaded to Facebook on May 17 before Spin reposted it on May 22.
“I’ma tell you something,” Kelly said in the brief clip. “I’ma take this musical sh*t, and I’ma inject these motherf***ers … I’m handcuffed by my destiny.”
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“It’s too late. They should’ve did this sh*t 30 years ago,” he says, clutching a cigar
“It’s too late. The music has been injected into the world,” Kelly says.
The R&B singer is also holding a drink in a room full of people. He toasts to them, saying: “To all the strong motherf***ers in here right now. Motherf***ers like you is why I still continue to do what I do, because I have a basketball mentality,” Kelly says. “As long as I’ve got the ball, the world is on defence.”
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Kelly’s behaviour has come under closer scrutiny over the last year as women have come forward to accuse him of everything from sexual coercion to physical abuse. Kelly has denied such charges.
On Monday, days after the video surfaced, Faith Rodgers filed a lawsuit against the I Believe I Can Fly singer claiming he sexually assaulted her, locked her in rooms for punishment and infected her with herpes.
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In April, the social media campaign #MuteRKelly sought to stop his music from being played and to cancel his concerts. Time’s Up also joined the campaign, urging further investigation into Kelly’s behaviour.
Time’s Up is seeking action from RCA Records, Kelly’s label; Spotify and Apple Music, which stream Kelly’s catalog; and Ticketmaster, which has sold tickets to his concerts.
Spotify removed Kelly’s music off its playlists on May 10. The music streaming service announced that, under a new public policy against “hate content and hateful conduct,” it would no longer feature Kelly’s music on its playlists.
The following day, Apple Music and Pandora announced that they would also stop promoting the R&B singer.
“Pandora’s policy is to not actively promote artists with certain demonstrable behavioral, ethical or criminal issues,” the company said in a statement.
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Streaming numbers for Kelly have remained intact a week after Spotify announced it had removed the R&B singer’s music from its playlists.
Kelly’s streaming numbers are relatively the same with some small growth: Before the announcement, he averaged 6,584,000 weekly streams for the year. But from May 10-16 he garnered 6,676,000 streams for the week, according to Nielsen Music.
Nielsen Music’s numbers are based on audio streams from Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and other music platforms.
— With files from the Associated Press
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