As the abuse allegations amounting against R. Kelly begin to lead to actual consequences, his past collaborators have also come under fire.
Both Lady Gaga and Chance The Rapper have both outspokenly apologised for working with Kelly in the past, and have since removed their collaborations from streaming services. Another artist coming under scrutiny for their collabs is Jay-Z, who is yet to speak out or make any sort of action.
For whatever reason, TMZ asked mega-producer Skrillex for his opinion on the impact that Surviving R. Kelly and about Jay-Z in particular. To that, Skrillex said that he doesn’t think Jay should have to remove his music and if he chooses not to, that doesn’t make him a bad person.
“You know, I don’t think he needs to do so. It’s hard. It’s like, look – there’s a word. It’s called ‘occhiolism.’ It’s the awareness of the smallness of your own perspective,” he said.
“If Jay-Z wants to keep his music because it’s music he made a long time ago, it’s part of the archives, it’s part of history. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad person. That doesn’t mean he supports bad people.”
Skrillex also said that he hasn’t really spared a thought to R. Kelly since these allegations arose over a decade ago, and that he supports Sony’s decision to drop the singer from the label and shelve all pending releases.
“I think everyone in their own sort of private world should make their own choices, but I support that.”
In more local R. Kelly news, a tour of his that was scheduled to go ahead in February was cancelled by promoter Big Music Tour due to ‘controversies’ surrounding the singer. This is strange for three reasons. First, the promoter initially defended their decision to tour Kelly, saying that they focus on “his incredible music.”
Secondly, tickets never went on sale for the tour despite an advertised sale date of December, 17th 2018.
Thirdly, R. Kelly himself said the tour was fake and he never agreed to playing any Australian dates.
