R Kelly has “unequivocally” denied allegations that he has held a number of young women in an “abusive cult”, following a startling investigative report published on Monday that cited accounts from a number of the singer’s former associates.
“Mr Robert Kelly is both alarmed and disturbed at the recent revelations attributed to him,” said Kelly’s attorney, Linda Mensch. “Mr Kelly unequivocally denies such allegations and will work diligently and forcibly to pursue his accusers and clear his name.”
The investigation, published by BuzzFeed News, alleged that the 50-year-old singer exercised svengali-like influence over six younger women, monitoring their movements in locations in Chicago and Atlanta and denying them contact with the outside world.
Kelly catapulted to fame in the 1990s and 2000s with songs, such as Bump and Grind and Ignition (Remix). In 1994, then 27, he married the 15-year-old budding R&B singer Aaliyah using falsified documents, having produced her first album, Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number, three years prior. The union was later annulled.
