Robert Kelly has been in federal custody since July of 2019, following the heinous allegations revealed in the docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly. At the time, it was reported that Kelly had two live-in girlfriends, Azriel Clary and Joycelyn Savage—both of whom hadn’t seen or been in direct contact with their families for years.
Clary agreed to cooperate with authorities investigating Kelly and as of January 2020, she returned home with her family. However, Savage (according to her parents) may still be under his control.
Jonjelyn and Timothy Savage spoke with TMZ and revealed that they tried to contact Joycelyn when her grandfather passed away but had to do so through Robert Sylvester [Kelly’s] camp.
“No response whatsoever. It’s time up for that,” said her father. “Everybody wanna say she’s grown? Let me hear from a grown woman. I wanna hear from my daughter.”
Her mother chimed in, adding, “Joycelyn, we need to hear from you directly. We always heard through third party information and we aren’t able to hear from her directly without—what I call—’prison calls,’ where the calls are scripted and known to be scripted.” Jonjelyn also asked to have a “one-on-one call as a family.”
“Listen, Robert is locked up,” said Timothy Savage at the end of the video. “All these enablers need to move aside. Joycelyn, I need to see you at that funeral. Just that simple.”
A week prior to Clary’s return home, footage surfaced of a physical altercation at Kelly’s Chicago residence in Trump Towers involving both Savage and Clary.
Clary explained in an Instagram Live that “[Joycelyn] just came to get [Kelly’s] awards, and his Grammys and stuff, and after that, she starts saying that I’m so wrong and this and that. And I told her, ‘Joycelyn you’re going to jail. You slept with a minor, that minor was me. You did it multiple times, over and over again.’”
Clary, then, stated that was when Savage began “attacking” her. Yet, Savage told PEOPLE, “[Azriel] has been trying to sabotage me ever since the start of it all. It’s just gotten worse since we’ve moved in together at the Trump Tower. She’s so immature, she knew I was packing my stuff to leave so she decides to go on Instagram Live to cause a scene.”
Kelly has been convicted on nine counts of racketeering and sex trafficking. He is currently awaiting sentencing and has another federal trial in Chicago—set to take place in May 2022 and August 2022, respectively.
Watch the full video from Savage’s parents below.