Multiple outlets have reported that Sony Music has dropped embattled R&B star R. Kelly from its roster.
The announcement comes two weeks after the popular documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly” drew fresh attention to the sex abuse allegations against R. Kelly, which have dogged him most of his career.
The #MeToo and #MuteRKelly movements have held protests, demanding his music be dropped from streaming services and beyond.
Representatives for Sony and RCA Records, where R. Kelly was signed to, didn’t immediately return emails seeking comment.
Lady Gaga and Celine Dion recently removed their duets with R. Kelly from streaming services and French rock band Phoenix apologized for collaborating with the singer in 2013.
R. Kelly has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct involving women and underage girls.
His first album on Sony, 1992′s “Born into the 90′s,” was with the group Public Announcement. His massively successful solo debut, “12 Play,” was released a year later.
Local connection
A Polk County mother claims her daughter is one of the young women in an abusive cult-like relationship with singer R. Kelly.
Alice Clary told 8 On Your Side that she hasn’t spoken to her daughter in nearly three years.
Her story is one of many featured on a Lifetime docu-series “Surviving R. Kelly.”
Clary sat down with News Channel 8 earlier this month to plea for her daughter to return home.
“I miss you so much. I love you, and I never gave up hope,” her mother said sobbing.
Her daughter, Azriel Clary, is an aspiring singer who met R. Kelly backstage at a concert in Orlando when she was 17.
Three months before her 18th birthday, Clary said R. Kelly asked her daughter to go on tour and promised to be her mentor.
“Originally I was like, ‘no you can’t do it, not if no one can’t be there,'” Alice said.
Her mother said Azriel was going through some health struggles and had tried to committ suicide after a breakup.
Her daughter’s doctor at the time reccomended music to help her recover, so they reluctantly agreed to let her go.
Clary said her daughter fulfilled her promise to finish school, but shortly after her graduation, things started to go downhill.
“Literally, as soon as she turned 18 it was like communication started dying and dwindling,” Alice said.
She claims her daughter is one of the dozens of women held in an abusive sex cult in the singer’s homes in Atlanta and Chicago.
She said she’s done everything to try to find her.
“We have went to different states, traveled to concerts. We have been to the studios and been to his old houses.”
But Alice said every time they come up empy-handed.
She recently went to R. Kelly’s concert in Tampa, the first in the Tampa Bay area since her daughter left.
She said she made it on stage and tried to grab her daughter, but she was taken away in handcuffs.
She vowed to keep fighting until her daughter is home.
“I’m never going to stop until the day I die,” she said as she fought back tears.
