In addition to Shia LaBeouf's Honey Boy-promoting appearance on Wednesday night's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, during which he notably discussed his near-joining of the Peace Corps, the show also included a highly watchable sit-down with Lil Rel Howery.
Around four minutes into the eight-minute interview, Rel and Kimmel waded into conversational territory focused on disgraced singer R. Kelly. As Rel explained, he's never been fond of Kelly or his music due to an on-set experience he had early in his career.
"It wasn't necessarily acting but I did stand-in work for R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet series," he said when asked about his first acting gig. "I did stand-in for the cop, Michael K. Williams, and my brother—this is a true story—I got them to hire him to do stand-in work for the little guy, but he's not a little guy. He's, like, five-eight. The little guy was walking around like 'This is my stand-in? You couldn't find nobody like me?'"
Rel added that it was "surreal" to watch the finished product, noting that "for years" people in his life questioned him on why he didn't like R. Kelly.
"And it's because of that experience on set," he said. "There was another stand-in, a young lady that was actually one of his background dancers too for a couple of his tours. We were just talking the whole time, getting to know each other, laughing, and having a good time. But every time she laughed, I found him just, like, staring at me. So we come back to set the next day right and she's not talking to us at all, right? At all!"
Rel ultimately opted to approach the woman about the change in behavior.
"I pulled her to the side and I'm like 'Yo, did I do something?' and she was like 'Nah, he doesn't want me talking to y'all' and I was like 'Who?' and she's like 'Robert!' . . . So she didn't talk to us the rest of the time we were filming it and it was just, like, it was just crazy and I remember him smirking about it."
Later in his life, Rel ended up at a John Singleton birthday party with Kelly, prompting an experience which further cemented his dislike for Kelly.
"I guess he wanted to meet me and he sent somebody to me and we were all in this VIP area . . . 'Man, I'm good,'" he said. "That's a true story. I'm like 'I'm good' and the thing about it is, it wasn't even about the allegations with me. He was so extra like that sometimes and I ain't like that. Everybody knows I'm from the West Side of Chicago and I own who I am. That's too much, bro. Just come speak to me, fam."
Elsewhere, Rel hilariously recalled the moment he learned that his father considers Uncle Drew to be a superior film to Get Out. See the full video up top.
