If you saw Gayle King‘s interview with R. Kelly on Wednesday, the singer had a complete breakdown on camera after being confronted with sexual assault allegations. That wasn’t the first time Kelly has been questioned about accusations that have spanned more than two decades.
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In case you missed it, in an interview that aired on “CBS This Morning,” Kelly offered implausible answers when he was questioned about his past with underage girls, like his illegal marriage to then-15-year-old singer Aaliyah.
“I beat my case,” he cried in reference to his 2008 acquittal on child porn charges. “When you beat something, you beat it. You can’t double-jeopardy me like that. You can’t. It’s not fair. It’s not fair to nobody!”
In the interview, Kelly also adamantly denied he was guilty, saying, “Forget the blogs, forget how you feel about me. Hate me if you want to, love me if you want. But just use your common sense. How stupid would it be for me, with my crazy past and what I’ve been through. … Quit playing! I didn’t do this stuff! This is not me! I’m fighting for my f*cking life!”
Back in 2002, Kelly did his first interview with BET’s Ed Gordon after a sex tape hit the streets that purportedly showed the singer and a teenager. Kelly denied every allegation, refused to talk about his marriage to an underage Aaliyah and repeatedly said, “I am not a monster.”
In 2008, Kelly was interviewed by Touré for BET again, and the journalist bluntly asked him, “Do you like teenage girls?” Kelly famously said, “When you say teenage, how old are we talking?”
Up until 2015, Kellly managed to avoid questions about the allegations but Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani from HuffPost Live professionally asked him about sexuality in his lyrics, which made Kelly feel like he was being “interrogated.” He walked off set.
Now we have arrived at his interview with Gayle King.
On Feb. 22, Kelly was indicted on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He is facing 70 years in prison. The latest charges against Kelly stem from attorney Michael Avenatti giving a pair of purported child porn videos that featured the singer. Avenatti said he was hired last April in connection to multiple allegations of Kelly sexually assaulting minors. He claimed to have videotaped evidence, which, despite their similarities, were apparently not the same video footage that got Kelly indicted in 2002 — and acquitted in 2008 — for child porn.
Increased interest in seeing Kelly charged for his alleged crimes came at the beginning of the year when the bombshell docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly” aired with several women accusing him of sexually abusing them when they were underage.
Watch the interviews below:
