R.Kelly reacts to #TimesUp joining #MuteRKelly Campaign, says he’s a “target of a greedy, conscious and malicious conspiracy”

RnB star R.Kelly’s team has released a statement in reaction to Women of Colour of Time’s Up calling on organisations to severe ties with the singer following decades of sexual misconduct allegations against him.

WOC of Time’s Up had said in their statement: “For too long, our community has ignored our pain. The pain we bear is a burden that too many women of colour have had to bear for centuries. The wounds run deep.”

The statement called on R.Kelly’s label RCA Records, Spotify, Apple Music, Ticketmaster and the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina, where the singer is scheduled to perform to “join us and insist on safety and dignity for women of all kinds”.

See statement from R.Kelly’s team, released to Variety below:

Kelly supports the pro-women goals of the Time’s Up movement.  We understand criticizing a famous artist is a good way to draw attention to those goals—and in this case, it is unjust and off-target.

We fully support the rights of women to be empowered to make their own choices.  Time’s Up has neglected to speak with any of the women who welcome R. Kelly’s support, and it has rushed to judgment without the facts.  Soon it will become clear Mr. Kelly is the target of a greedy, conscious and malicious conspiracy to demean him, his family and the women with whom he spends his time.

Kelly’s music is a part of American and African-American culture that should never—and will never—be silenced.   Since America was born, black men and women have been lynched for having sex or for being accused of it.  We will vigorously resist this attempted public lynching of a black man who has made extraordinary contributions to our culture.

–Thanks for listening.  R. Kelly management.