Calls To Sexual Assault Hotline Increase By 40 Percent After Premiere Of ’Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning’

Sexual assault calls to the National Sexual Hotline went up by 40 percent after the airing of ’Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning.’

Lifetime’s docuseries, “Surviving R. Kelly,” has released its follow-up series “The Reckoning,” which focuses Kelly’s 2019 arrest and his current charges. And ever since Part II dropped last week, calls coming into the National Sexual Assault Hotline, created and run by RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), have nearly doubled, Essence Magazine reports.

“The Friday and Saturday after Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning aired, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline experienced a 40% increase in calls,” said Erinn Robinson, RAINN Press Secretary. “We are proud to have partnered with Lifetime on this project and are encouraged that our work with the media continues to empower survivors of sexual violence to seek the help that they need to heal.”

But this will be the second time this has happened for the hotline service. After “Surviving R. Kelly” premiered for the first time, the hotline saw a rise in calls by 27 percent in just one week. RAINN says calls often are spiked when sexual assault and abuse stories make headlines.

The same events occurred during the hearing for #BrettKavanaugh, in which #ChristineBlaseyFord accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s.

At that time, the hotline saw a 147 percent increase, and when #DonaldTrump’s Access Hollywood tape was released, the hotline received a 33 percent rise in calls. In the video, Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women.