The first part of Gayle King’s interview with R. Kelly aired on CBS This Morning on Tuesday (Mar. 6), and their conversation was very tense to say the least. Following the explosive interview discussing Kelly’s sex abuse allegations, King shared her thoughts about the singer and whether she believed he would turn violent against her.
Prior to the interview, King had the opportunity to sit down with Kelly at his home in Chicago. “It’s no secret that he lives in Trump Tower in Chicago. When you walk into his apartment, there’s a Christmas tree that he keeps up all year long since his mother passed in 1993… It was her favorite holiday,” she recalled of her visit to Kelly’s residence. “It was 90 degrees in there because he was resting his voice. He said he was going to be singing later.”
While King had a relatively pleasant visit to the Trump Tower, her on-air interview with the disgraced R&B singer soon turned into a temperamental conversation. R. Kelly was seen crying and yelling into the camera lens as he denied allegations of abusing young women and holding them against their will. Despite his behavior, King stated that she never felt unsettled or afraid for her safety.
“I actually never thought that [I would get hit]. I thought that I might accidentally get clobbered, but I didn’t think that he would deliberately hit me,” she explained. “I never felt in danger talking to him. I just thought that he had a lot of emotion and he wanted to release it.”
As previously reported, R. Kelly was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sex abuse against four women. He was released on a $100,000 bond on Feb. 25. He has adamantly denied all charges and allegations brought against him. Nevertheless, King suggested that it’s hard for anyone to believe that he is completely innocent. “It’s hard to believe that when you say, ‘Robert, there are so many allegations, so many accusations… You never had sex with someone under the age of 17?’ He said more will come out on his side of the story too.”
The second part of R. Kelly’s interview with Gayle King will air on CBS This Morning on Thursday, Mar. 7. Watch R. Kelly’s most emotional clip from the first part of the interview in the video below.
“Stop it. You all quit playing! Quit playing! I didn't do this stuff! This is not me! I'm fighting for my f***ing life! Y'all killing me with this sh*t!" @RKelly told @GayleKing, standing up. "I gave you 30 years of my f***ing career!"https://t.co/u4AENVJQsc pic.twitter.com/jLF7l8etYh
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 6, 2019