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Fresh off the conviction of Bill Cosby, the Women of Color's committee within the Time's Up movement for gender equality urged Monday the music business to dump R&B star R. Kelly.
Calling the conviction last week of comedian Cosby "just a start," the women urged "people everywhere to join with us to insist on a world in which women of all kinds can pursue their dreams free from sexual assault, abuse and predatory behavior."
Backing a social media campaign dubbed #MuteRKelly, the women's movement urged the singer's record label as well as streaming services Spotify and Apple Music to drop him and called on the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina to cancel his concert scheduled on May 11.
We join the call to #MuteRKelly and insist on the safety + dignity of all women. We demand investigations into R. Kelly’s abuse allegations made by women of color + their families for two decades. We call on those who profit from his music to cut ties. #MuteRKelly #TIMESUP #WOC pic.twitter.com/TYmDRVIH00
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) 30 avril 2018
"We demand appropriate investigations and inquiries into the allegations of R. Kelly's abuse made by women of color and their families for over two decades now," the Women of Color of Time's Up said in a statement. "And we declare with great vigilance and a united voice to anyone who wants to silence us — their time is up."
Kelly, 51, was acquitted in 2008 of charges of child pornography after the Chicago Sun-Times reported on a video that allegedly showed him in sexual acts with an underage girl.
Earlier in April, a woman filed a complaint with police in Dallas alleging that Kelly knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease during a relationship that began when she was 19.
And last year, BuzzFeed News reported that Kelly was holding six women in virtual slavery with power over their clothing, diet and sexual encounters, which he would allegedly record. Kelly denied all the allegations against him.
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