Amid the sexual assault cases coming to light in the entertainment industry, R. Kelly’s alleged sex cult still remains somewhat of an unsolved obscurity. The parents of these reported victims want answers but most importantly they want their daughters back and are seeking redemption. Yet they feel because these are black girls, justice isn’t getting served.
The father of 20-year-old victim Azriel Clary, Angelo Clary, recently spoke to TMZ about the issue, and how he feels that Kelly isn’t getting the same treatment as Harvey Weinstein or Bill Cosby because his victims are black women—if they were white women, Clary believes justice would be served.
“Black girls ain’t getting no views, no input, no support, no nothing,” he said. “You got Sony records that should answer for this. You got people that are supporting this man; Clive Davis, all these people that are in close net with him they have to answer to this because if these were Caucasian young women, we would not be going through this. Period. It would be done, he would’ve released those children and went on with his life or he would have been in jail. “
Clary says his daughter was 17 when she met Kelly to discuss her music career. He recalls he and her mother were present during the meeting, but allegedly when they weren’t looking, Kelly slipped her his number. Since then, she moved in with him, and Angelo hasn’t seen her since; he spoke to her on the phone eight months ago.
Last July, Buzzfeed published an explosive article exposing Kelly’s alleged sex cult in his Chicago and Atlanta homes titled, “Inside The Pied Piper Of R&B’s “Cult.” Here are some details on the legality of the consent of age for these cities where the singer allegedly is holding these girls—also highlighting his previous run-ins with the law involving a minor and sexual misconduct:
And all of the women in Kelly’s inner circle are of legal age — the age of consent is 17 in Illinois and 16 in Georgia — despite Kelly’s history of allegations against him regarding his sexual conduct with women. He was last tried in 2008 in Illinois, where he was acquitted on 14 charges of making child pornography. The case, which took a record six and a half years to go to trial in Chicago, focused only on a single videotape that prosecutors alleged showed him having sex with a 14-year-old girl. (While he was a reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times, this reporter received the tape anonymously and turned it over to the police; called by Kelly’s attorneys to testify, he took the Fifth Amendment rather than revealing sources.)
According to the news site, authorities can’t proceed unless Azriel and the other women claim they’re being endangered and held against their will.