In the latest fallout from the Lifetime docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, protesters from eight different groups gathered outside of Sony Music‘s NYC headquarters this morning demanding that R. Kelly be dropped from his label.
Members from the groups #MuteRKelly, Black Women’s Blueprint, Care2, Color of Change, CREDO, Girls for Gender Equity, NOW-NYC and UltraViolet brought with them a petition delivery of 217,394 signatures and a “Record Label Of Shame” award.
Related: More Artists Pull Their Collabs With R. Kelly From Music Streaming Services
The statement from the “Rally To Protect Black Girls” read:
“Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly is an unignorable investigation into R. Kelly’s decades of alleged sexual abuse of young Black women and girls, and those in the music industry that have not only enabled him, but profited from him. R. Kelly has been able to continue to prey on vulnerable Black girls for so long because companies like RCA — his record label — provide him a revenue stream to maintain his sex trafficking operation and a veneer of public credibility. With the seriousness of these numerous allegations and their overwhelming credibility, it’s past time for RCA and their parent company, Sony, to take a stand and drop R. Kelly from their record label. No company should be profiting from a man who physically, mentally, and sexually abuses Black girls.”
According to Billboard, protesters chanted:
“Sony Music has no shame. They only care about profits and fame!”
“RCA take a stand. We won’t stop till Kelly’s banned!”
“RCA we’re here to stay! You must drop R. Kelly today!”
The groups also shared photos and videos on social media from their gathering (below):
“YOU did nothing to cause this violence.” –@BlackWomensBP’s Sharaya Tindal to survivors #MuteRKelly #DropRKelly pic.twitter.com/4UoFisTiti
— UltraViolet (@UltraViolet) January 16, 2019
WATCH NOW: Black women and allies deliver more than a hundred thousand petition signatures to @RCARecords headquarters to demand they #DropRKelly. https://t.co/lon5SV0fSO pic.twitter.com/CKuKekC0wP
— ColorOfChange (@ColorOfChange) January 16, 2019
And that’s not all. Last week, UltraViolet flew this banner (below) over RCA’s El Lay HQ:
A sign calling for #SonyMusic & @RCARecords to drop @rkelly was flown over the Sony offices in Culver City on Friday. The plane was commissioned by @UltraViolet, a women's organization that has proclaimed solidarity with the #MuteRKelly campaign. ✊????✊????#SurvivingRKelly #Rkelly pic.twitter.com/FlmJvbGa2n
— MuteRKelly-Official (@OffMuteRKelly) January 12, 2019
While his label has pulled all funding for future projects from the accused abuser, they have yet to issue any formal statements regarding the allegations made in the docuseries.
[Image via LK/WENN.]
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