R. Kelly’s manager Don Russell defended his friend and blamed Kelly’s accusers during a brief run-in with reporters this week, denying there ever being any underage sex with young girls. Russell’s adamant commitment to the narrative that Kelly is innocent of sexual abuse, despite years of proof to the contrary, has many looking at him and members of Kelly’s team as enablers, which Russell also denied.
Russell, who was previously accused of harassing one of the singer’s accusers, downplayed the allegations by suggesting that Kelly was a victim of child sex abuse stating, “He should be in the room with a psychiatrist, not the police.” Russell then took another approach in defending Kelly by blaming at least one of the accusers, saying, “He’s not a bad person. He’s not the monster that everybody is portraying him to be. You gotta think about the agenda of those folks who are targeting him.”
In regards to the accusations of Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old, the same accusation he was arrested for last week, Russell denied the claims. However, he did confirm there were sex tapes of R. Kelly but suggested the only reason the X-rated footage exists was to prove the sex was consensual. “The videos exist. The only way to prove that [the sex] was consensual is maybe for him to tape it,” Russell stared before explaining that Kelly was following advice. “That’s not what he chose to do, he was advised to do so on some occasions.” Russell even through #MikeTyson in the mix, referencing how the boxer was not able to properly defend himself from his own sex crime charges and ended up being convicted because of it.
Russell also touched on the rumor that Kelly used to pick up female students from local high schools, to which he said Kelly went there to help his craft in music. “He wasn’t going to that school because he was targeting somebody… he had a teacher who actually taught him how to play the piano and taught him about music and a lot of things. So he wasn’t going there targeting anybody; he was going there to learn more about his craft.”
Russell continued to imply that any fault to be had belonged to the families of the accusers. He took a similar stance to Kelly’s defense attorney, Steve Greenberg, who told reporters last week that he thinks “all the women are lying.” Russell advised the media to “Do the research on the accusers.” He said, “Whoever let the 14-year-old, whatever you guys are saying, whoever let them get in the room…how did they get in there? Why did they get in there?”
How much loyalty does one need to defend a repeatedly accused child molester?
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