Skip to Content

To everyone’s delight, disgraced singer R. Kelly is having a terrible week.

First, he flipped the eff out on Gayle King during a disastrous interview. He went in for damage control but did the opposite.

And now, R. Kelly has been arrested once again.

R. Kelly Gets Interviewed
(CBS)

Now, don’t get too excited — remember how Al Capone got locked away for tax evasion? This is a little like that.

R. Kelly was arrested on Wednesday because he owes a massive amount of child support.

TMZ reports that he owes Drea Kelly $161,633 in unpaid child support 

With Drea, the rapper fathered a daughter and two sons: Joann, age 21, Jay, age 19, and Robert, age 17.

Child support payments are absolutely vital, but compared to the much more serious charges that he is facing, this arrest was a drop in the bucket.

Interestingly, Kelly’s own words during his recent interview may come back to haunt him about this.

R. Kelly Without Glasses
(Getty)

"Thirty years of my career!" Kelly said on CBS Good Morning with Gayle King, addressing the camera. "Y’all are trying to kill me!"

For the record, no one is trying to kill him — or if they are, they’re not doing a very good job.

"This is not about music! I’m trying to have a relationship with my kids and I can’t do it!" he lamented.

No one is boycotting or "persecuting" Kelly over his music. Their issue is over the numerous heinous allegations of sex crimes and violence.

But it’s interesting that a man who claims that he was trying to stay in contact with his children would claim that they’re the center of his world.

"You just don’t want to believe the truth!" Kelly insisted on camera. "You don’t want to believe it!"

The Hollywood Gossip Logo

Kelly insisted that he doesn’t keep anyone captive or brainwashed, and that the only thing keeping them with him is "love."

Naturally, Gayle asks: "What kind of love is it that keeps these young women away from their families?"

R. Kelly then attempts to pivot: "What kind of father, what kind of mother would sell their daughter to a man?"

"So you’re saying the parents handed their daughters, Azriel and Jocelyn, to you?” Gayle follows up. “Is that what you’re saying?"

Astoundingly, Kelly replies: "Absolutely."

If you’re saying that someone "sold" you a human being, then you’re saying that you bought someone … which is very much a crime.

The Hollywood Gossip Logo

During his interview, R. Kelly exaggerated some of the claims against him.

It’s unclear if he was trying to distance himself from the actual allegations, or if he hopes to shift the narrative to later be exonerated in people’s eyes.

(He mentions people being chained in his basement, and when that doesn’t come up in court, people will go "oh he didn’t do it")

He did mention some of the actual allegations.

"Handcuffing people, starving people," Kelly listed.

Kelly notes that it’s reported that "I have a harem, what you call it — a cult."

"I don’t even really know what a cult is," he admits. "But I know I don’t have one."

The Hollywood Gossip Logo

To help out Mr. Kelly, we can explain.

Once upon a time, a cult was just a religious group, often with specific religious interests.

These days, the term is used perjoratively to refer to abusive groups that follow a charismatic leader.

Such groups usually have a religious or spiritual element but do not always, and they tend to feature violence and/or sexual exploitation.

If Kelly has a group of women whom he grooms to serve him and keeps obedient through money, violence, and brainwashing — that may fit the bill.

But he’s accused of more than that.

R. Kelly Smoking
(Getty)

His most recent arrest included ten charges, nine of which indicate that he is accused of sex acts on an underage victim between the ages of 13 and 16.

Prosecutors are reportedly in possession of multiple tapes that feature Kelly committing statutory rape upon a 14-year-old victim.

The grisly details are said to include Kelly choking the victim, urinating on her, and verbally referring to her body parts as being 14 years old.

Reports say that there are multiple tapes featuring multiple victims.

But yes, Kelly should also pay his child support.