Journalist Says She Was Assaulted While Filming R. Kelly Documentary

A documentary filmmaker, who was working for Buzzfeed on an RKelly documentary amid allegations of an alleged secret sex cult, says she was assaulted over the weekend while filming.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Lyric Cabral said the incident occurred at an R.Kelly after party on August. 18, following Kelly’s show at The Family Arena in Missouri. 

“I had the camera phone in my hand above my head. All I know is I felt an arm around my neck, and I was lifted up,” Cabral told the BuzzFeed, adding that her phone was taken in the process. “The next thing I know I’m facing outside.” 

She said she was confronted by “six men,” who she believed to be members of the East St. Louis Police Department, the club security and some members of Kelly’s security crew. As a result, Cabral filed a police report, claiming she and a co-worker “were removed for filming a documentary.” 

“He said I was ‘filming maliciously,” Cabral added, in her explanation of the incident. “The behavior I was ejected for was common. Everyone was filming. We never got a warning. I was just assaulted.”

By the end of the entire ordeal, Cabral said she eventually got her phone back by a man dressed in “black with a headset,” but all of the footage had been deleted.

In the meantime, the incident is under investigation, as the East St. Louis Police Chief released a statement in the wake of the incident, saying, “while the club does have the right to remove anyone from the club, they do not have the right to assault anyone in the process.” 

“We are currently looking into the accusations and attempting to retrieve any surveillance which will show what transpired,” Jerry C. Simon continued. “The investigation is ongoing by the Detective Division because Ms. Cabral was unsure who had assaulted her inside the club.”