Sources Say R Kelly Wants to Sue Everyone Involved in Lifetime Docuseries

Published: 1/7/2019, 2:45:08 PM EST

Sources Say R Kelly Wants to Sue Everyone Involved in Lifetime Docuseries — Singer R. Kelly attends the Ovadia & Sons front row during New York Fashion Week at Skylight Clarkson Sq in New York City on July 14, 2015. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

R. Kelly wants to sue everybody involved in the Lifetime series “Surviving R. Kelly,” according to sources that spoke with TMZ.

The sources say that R. Kelly wants to sue despite never watching an episode of the series. They say people close to him have kept him up on developments in the series, which have infuriated him and he has said he doesn’t know half the people Lifetime spoke with, TMZ reported.

Kelly still denies the accusations that he holds young and underage black women against their will. In the series, there are parents that claim Kelly still has their daughters housed somewhere, and that they cannot contact them, including a family who hasn't seen their daughter since her 2016 high school graduation, Complex reported.

Kelly thinks that the series is run by people who have a vendetta against him and have hated him throughout his career, TMZ reported.

R. Kelly released a single on New Year’s Day over Soundcloud. The song, “Born To My Music,” talks about those that R. Kelly has influenced, and that his music even helped his fans to have children, presumably while listening to his music. In the song he thanks fans and praises himself.

Clips of “Surviving R. Kelly” on Lifetime TV’s Instagram account show young women crying while recalling experiences with R. Kelly, and even R. Kelly’s ex-wife, Andrea Kelly, also appears.

Andrea Kelly started to reveal her experience with the singer before the Lifetime series. She gave an interview on The View talking about dramatic instances of physical abuse by then-husband R. Kelly.

Ongoing Problems

Renewed interest in R. Kelly’s dealings with underage girls and young women started after a 2017 Buzzfeed article claimed R. Kelly was keeping a cult of young women. That same year, one of the women allegedly being held against her will by Kelly, Jocelyn Savage, released a video meant to combat accusations against Kelly, Heavy reported.

In follow up videos she tries to tell her family to stop making a big issue out of it. Her family made public pleas to bring Savage back. Even with the release of the Lifetime series, the Savage family is still pleading.

“It’s been almost two years now, and we still haven’t seen our daughter,” said Savage’s father, according to a Complex report on the last episode of “Surviving R. Kelly.”

“When the Savages first came out, talking about Joycelyn, R. Kelly had meetings to strategize to fix the situation,” said an anonymous former employee, via Complex. “The first thing was to put Joycelyn in front of the camera on TMZ, which is something he ordinarily would not have done. [...] As far as the video Joycelyn Savage made, I would say that it was scripted, because Robert does not allow those girls to say anything that he has not told them to say.”

The documentary series is also encouraging those who have no connection with Kelly to speak out. A national network that takes calls from people experiencing sexual abuse saw a 27 percent rise in traffic to their website after the first night “Surviving R. Kelly” aired, according to Today.