R. Kelly’s CBS This Morning interview with Gayle King has been widely regarded as a textbook example of how not to do crisis management, after the singer, who was recently arrested on 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse, started shouting, crying, taking to his feet and punching the air in a threatening manner. He also called his accusers liars during the 80-minute interview.
So why did he do it? Well, a new report suggests that Kelly, rather than being guided by an expert PR management team, was urged to make his big gesture by his “spirit.”
TMZ reports that sources close to Kelly say he sat down with King for the CBS special because he is in constant touch with his “spirit” and, TMZ adds, “tends to listen to it more than the people around him.”
TMZ says that Kelly gives “zero fucks” about how he’s being portrayed and the public reaction to him.
In addition to the ten allegations with which he has been formally charged, Kelly has faced other allegations of sexually assaulting young girls in recent days.
Gary Dennis, a nursing home assistant from Pennsylvania, said he was clearing out a box of old tapes in his home and found one labelled with Kelly’s name.
Dennis said: “To my shock and surprise, R. Kelly appeared to be on the tape, but not in concert... instead he was sexually abusing under-age African-American girls.”
Gloria Allred, the lawyer representing alleged victims in an abuse case against Kelly, said the tape appeared to show a separate incident from the counts of abuse the singer is already facing.
In the interview, Kelly, referred to his 2008 acquittal on child porn charges, saying: “People are going back to my past and they’re trying to add all of this stuff now to that…I beat my case. When you beat something, you beat it. You can’t double-jeopardy me like that, it’s not fair.”
