A controlling R. Kelly barred his live-in girlfriends from watching a documentary series that portrayed him as a sexual predator and kept watch over them during an interview with Gayle King, one of the women testified Tuesday at the R&B singer’s sex-trafficking trial.
If “Surviving R. Kelly” came on TV, “we were to immediately change the channel,” said the witness, who’s testifying as a “Jane Doe” in federal court in Brooklyn.
Kelly was there in the shadows when she and another live-in girlfriend spoke to King for a “CBS This Morning” segment in 2019 she said. She described how he would cough as a signal to keep them on script, backing up his denials, she said.
“He was letting us know he was in the room with us,” she said of the cough.
Kelly, 54, has repeatedly denied accusations that he preyed on several alleged victims during a 30-year career highlighted by his 1996 mega hit “I Believe I Can Fly.” His lawyers have portrayed the accusers as groupies seeking to take advantage of his fame.
