Six women who appeared in the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries have been awarded $10.5 million after they successfully sued the disgraced singer and his former manager over a threat that shut down a 2018 screening.
As TMZ reports, the women made allegations against R. Kelly in the documentary, and the singer and Donnell Russell, his manager at the time, continually attempted to silence them. The first season of the docuseries aired on Lifetime in January 2019, but Kelly and Russell reportedly made various legal threats against the women and the producers of the show ahead of its release.
Someone on Kelly's team later threatened to "shoot up" a December 2018 screening of the docuseries in New York City, which prompted the event to shut down. Per the judgment, the six women should be awarded between $1.1 million to $2.25 million each.
Earlier this month, it was reported that a district judge in New York signed an order demanding Kelly's royalties be used to handle his restitution fees. Universal Music Group reportedly has over $560,000 in royalties from the music they are currently sitting on, while Kelly has an outstanding restitution balance of $506,950.26.
The 56-year-old singer is currently serving a 30-year sentence in New York after he was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking. Earlier this year, he was sentenced to 20 years by a Chicago judge for his federal sexual assault case, although he will serve all but one year concurrent to the 30-year sentence.
The music industry has thankfully abandoned R. Kelly in the wake of his numerous sex crimes, but Timbaland is one of the few artists who seemingly still thinks R. Kelly is "the king of R&B." in an interview with Shannon Sharpe in May, he said he doesn't "mix music up with personal" and doesn't think he can ignore all the material the disgraced singer produced during his career. "Music is something that don't have no race, it brings people together," he said. "It don't have no drama with it. It is a place of enjoyment; a feeling, so don't bring drama into music. Leave that outside."
More recently, Damon Dash criticized Jay-Z for doing two full-length albums with R. Kelly even though it was public knowledge he married 15-year-old Aaliyah when he was 27.
