Summary: A woman said that R.Kelly gave her an STD.
For decades, R&B singer R. Kelly has been plagued by rumors of inappropriate relationships with underage girls and women, and last week, a woman filed a complaint with the Dallas Police Department, alleging that the superstar had committed sexual misconduct and given her an STD.
The woman who filed the complaint said that she began her relationship with R.Kelly when she was 19 and that it lasted eight-months, according to Syracuse.com. Through a statement from her attorney, she said that R.Kelly was controlling and had infected her with an STD.
The unnamed plaintiff is represented by Lee Merritt from Philadelphia. Merritt’s client said that she met Kelly last June and she was infected with the disease in December.
The plaintiff said that while in the relationship with Kelly she “was the victim of several forms of criminal misconduct by Kelly, including, but not limited to, unlawful restraint, furnishing alcohol and illegal drugs to a minor, and aggravated assault (via the referenced intentional STD infection).”
Merritt added that his client was being groomed to become Kelly’s sex slave.
“These offenses occurred while our client was being groomed to join Kelly’s sex cult,” Merritt said. “Kelly gradually introduced the cult to our client over the course of their relationship, culminating with an explanation that she would have to sign a contract and offer collateral information about herself and her family for Kelly’s protection.”
For years, Kelly has been accused of having inappropriate sexual relationships with young women and teenagers, including the late singer Aaliyah. In 2008, he was on trial for child pornography, but he was acquitted after the alleged victim and her parents declined to testify.
Recently, some of his former lovers have sued him, claiming he sexually and physically abused them, and last summer, parents of an alleged young victim told Buzzfeed that R.Kelly was keeping their daughter in a cult. The alleged victim later released a video statement that she was dating R.Kelly and was with him consensually.
According to Syracuse.com, the Buzzfeed report inspired the most recent accuser to file last week’s lawsuit. After she read the article, she reached out to the parents in the story and told them that she had met their daughter, Jocelyn Savage, 22.
Jocelyn’s parents said that they never accepted money from Kelly for their silence, and they stated that the singer controlled their daughter and forced her to say she was happy with him.
“Other girls have said it to us but they weren’t willing to speak up,” the Savages said to Syracuse.com. “We need a witness to speak up. I hope this opens up some answers. We felt from the beginning that the reason he’s holding the girls is he has some kind of STD that he couldn’t cure.”
A representative of R.Kelly, 51, said that he “denies all claims and allegations.”