One of his more frequent collaborators over the years, R&B legend Kelly Price admits she isn’t entirely convinced of R Kelly’s innocence.
“I think where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” the R&B singer recently told VladTV.
Price, who began collaborating with the Kelly in the 1990s told the outlet that her relationship with Kelly was always “professional.” Price claimed she was never “exposed” to Kelly’s alleged misconduct, but had heard the whispers involving supposed relationships with teenage girls.
“He never brought anything around me. People don’t believe it but he never, ever brought anything around me,” Price said. “He never acted weird. He never tried to make a pass. We, very much so, had a brother-sister [relationship].”
She continued: “I think we all heard rumors. The rumors were that he liked underage girls. He never had underage girls around me.”
Price said she had become close with Kelly’s family, and suggested that relationship may have been the reason why he remained so professional whenever she was around.
“I went to Chicago, went to [Kelly’s] house, played with kids, cooked for the kids … That really was who I was to that family,” she explained. “So I was not exposed to a lot of the other shenanigans. And I think that there was a part of him that understood that if I did see any [sex crimes], I wouldn’t be like somebody else and turn my head the other way.”
Price then touched on the sexual abuse and harassment that continues to plague the music industry, pointing out that it was quite common to see young women and girls being exploited.
“In this business—and nobody really wants to talk about it—in this business, that’s not odd, that’s actually the culture,” she said. “It’s the culture. Now that I have seen. I’ve seen mothers bring their daughters backstage. And that’s the thing nobody wants to talk about.”
The interview was published about four months after Kelly was found guilty on a slew of criminal charges, including racketeering, bribery, and sexual exploitation of a child. He is now awaiting a sentencing hearing set to take place later this year.
