R. Kelly’s Alleged Victim Claims He Made Threats to Silence Her
Faith Rodgers, who is one of the alleged victims featured in the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries has accused R. Kelly of threatening and intimidating into silence.
Rodgers with her attorney Gloria Allred by her side, held a press conference on Monday (Jan. 14) in New York to state her case before meeting with detectives.
“We are here today to let Mr. Kelly know in no uncertain terms that he cannot and will not intimidate his alleged victims into keeping silent,” Allred told the media in attendance. "Mr. Kelly, your disgusting tactics will not prevent women who allege that they were victimized from telling their truth."
Rodgers initially filed a lawsuit against Kelly in May 2018. In the suit, she accused the singer of sexual battery and knowingly infected with an STD. Rodgers claimed she met the singer when she was 19 years old and dated for a year. During their courtship, the singer was allegedly mentally, verbally and sexually abusive to her, according to court documents.
At the press conference, Allred's attorney Lydia Hills claimed Kelly intimidated her by threatening to reveal her sexual past. Hills also added that Rodgers has been harassed online as well as receiving threatening phone calls and texts.
"We needed to come to New York because it was our understanding that she needed to meet in person with the detectives and the investigators,” she said. “The investigators are going to be aware of this statement, this letter to Lydia C. Hills.”
Allred also said Kelly’s lawyer threatened to call 10 male witnesses to testify under oath about Rodgers' sex life and post explicit private photos.
“No one should be victim-shamed, harassed or retaliated against because she asserted her rights and spoke her truth,” Rodgers said during the press conference. “Robert Kelly, the Faith Rodgers you knew, that you met when you were 19 years old no longer exists...The 21-year-old Faith Rodgers you are seeing now is much wiser and much stronger.”
Last Friday (Jan. 11), R. Kelly's attorney, Steve Greenberg, told the Associated Press that the singer denies all allegations of sexual misconduct involving women and underage girls, including those made in the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries.
“The allegations aren’t true because he never knowingly had sex with an underage woman, he never forced anyone to do anything, he never held anyone captive, he never abused anyone,” said Greenberg.
Meanwhile, Chicago's city inspectors are planning to search R. Kelly's recording studio this week after learning that people may have been living at the property, which is zoned for commercial use only.
Watch Faith Rodgers and Gloria Allred's press conference regarding allegations of abuse by R. Kelly below.
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