Life for R&B singer R. Kelly hasn’t been easy since the 48-year-old Chicago native was repeatedly accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with underage girls. Kelly settled a lawsuit filed against him in 1998 by a woman who claims he had sex with her when she was 15 and he was 24.
Then there was his illegal marriage to 15-year-old singer Aallyah, whom he met when she was only 12.
On Monday, Kelly sat down for a tense interview with The Huffington Post to discuss his latest album, The Buffet, which sold less than 10,000 copies.
Kelly was resistant to interviewer Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani‘s line of questioning from the start.
“If you want to leave you can certainly leave,” said Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani.
“If the next question is something negative out of your mouth — with all due respect, that’s exactly what I’m gonna do,” Kelly responded. “If I think it’s negative, I’m gonna walk.”
Things went left when the interviewer read aloud a tweet that brought up Kelly’s past history with underaged girls.
“Would I let R. Kelly babysit my daughter? F*ck no,” she said.
“So we can curse on this TV show?” Kelly asked.
“Yeah, absolutely. You can say whatever you want,” Modarressy-Tehrani replied.
To which Kelly responded, “I say f*ck that.”
Kelly defended himself, saying he sells out shows everywhere.
“IF I heard what you just said [at a show], I would never show up to that venue again,” he said.
After some tense back and forth, Kelly got up to leave. “I love you,” Kelly said, complimenting the interviewer. “You’re so beautiful,” he said.
“You don’t have to comment on my appearance, sir,” she said, flicking her bangs off her face — a body language sign that confirmed she was indeed flattered by his compliment.
Watch the interview below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcyhDabt5es
