The way I remember it, I never recalled R Kelly actually being a media punching bag or a true media villain prior to that documentary and his conviction.

Think about how the media went HAM on Diddy, MJ(pre death), Whitney Houston, Chris Brown, Tory Lanez, Kanye(post 2021), Nicki Minaj, etc. for whatever issues and controversies they had.

The media did not hold ANY punches on them at all. They were getting lit up like a cigarette as soon as they got caught up in controversy.

I don't recall the media ever given Kellz that same treatment despite the fact that him being a pedophile and committing statutory rape on young girls was basically public knowledge.

Kellz preying on and illegally marrying a 15 year old Aaliyah was public knowledge. The s***tape of him pissing on the 14 year old girl was so popular that it got parodied to death. And the list goes on.

Yet I don't recall an era prior to the conviction when Kellz was a true media villain. Not excusing Breezy by any means but Chris seemed to get 5 times the backlash and push for blackballing than Kellz ever did.

It seemed even many TV shows and movies tried to bury the topic. The only nigga I knew who was blatantly bringing attention to it was Dave Chappelle both on his TV show and in his standup. And even that was played for laughs.

R Kelly pre-documentary might've lowkey been the most beloved horrible nigga in music history lol. That nigga even performed with Gaga, grabbing her up and getting applause from the audience. And Gaga didn't say s*** until Surviving R Kelly lol.

Bear in mind, I'm not saying this as a "cancel culture" thing either. I still regard Kellz as an R&B legend but it's lowkey weird how latent the media was on him compared to many other music artists given what he was associated with.

yeah he was still making music, touring, still had legend status, artists collabing with him

Yeah I’m old and remember early 2000s, r Kelly already had accusations and the tape, and seemingly no one cared

Maybe it’s due to the time period

Chris brown, Kanye, diddy, etc all had s*** going on in the real hardcore internet era

R Kelly just missed that

We were online in the early 2000s, but it wasn’t as mainstream and people were still getting their news from paper, radio, tv

Outrage spreads a lot further and louder on the internet

TL;DR: r Kelly benefited from the main controversies happening before the real internet era. Things spread faster and louder on the internet

Because it was little black girls

Not one mention of the Gayle King interview?

This was an era that you could turn to God and be forgiven

i wasnt there but looking back it just people making jokes that he liked being pissed on at worst

not a single shred of care for the victims

but tbh that was the 2000s for you as well. very sick time in terms of media

It absolutely was

WHY WOULD I HOGTIE!?!?!

Its been known and joked about for a long time. Idk if it was south Park or boondocks were making r kelly pee jokes in the 2000s. Nobody knew the details and how far it went until the doc tho.

The woke mob grew too powerful

this as well. the craziness of the 2000s makes red pill today and 2010s PC culture feel like a different world

Back then the internet wasn’t the giant as it is today to get the inside scoop and usually the media had a easier time trying to downplay certain issues (if they felt that celeb wasn’t a threat) or try to move the next segment fast before backlashes started to grow.

In a time we in right now. I feel like that s*** starting to go away fast now.

R Kelly and P Diddy both had the kind of "everyone knows but nobody doing anything about it" vibes to their abuse. Both of these niggas, it was kinda an open secret. R Kelly to a greater extent because of the trial etc but we all knew Diddy a shady nigga too

Now Bill Cosby, that s*** was fr a shock and came out of nowhere to me

Also disagree with Chris Brown being mentioned here

They 100% tried to “rehab” him and let him keep doing his thing like Kelly did. He was dancing at the Grammys not long after the Rihanna incident but social media was outraged.

Chris Brown happened in a transitioning period where social media and people’s outrage was starting to have more power.

If Chris Brown happens 10 years earlier he would’ve continued to be a star

Is today much better? "No Diddy" has become a part of our lexicon, the baby oil jokes etc

Chris Brown does a lot better/possibly has a thriving career that if they didn't get pics of Rihanna's face after it happened and plaster it everywhere. Hard to get people to move on from that

Well he actually got real time unlike most people you name

this the part that no one wants to talk about

People was definitely calling out that happy people/u saved me was some PR s*** tho.

Going to jail for rape = woke mob

K Relly was really such a bad writer dawg lol