R Kelly team kicks against #Muterkelly campaign

R Kelly’s representatives have responded to a new campaign to ‘mute’ his music in response to the sexual abuse allegations against him. 

The Women of Colour (WOC) group in the Hollywood-based Time’s Up movement backed #MuteRKelly this week, which urges labels, businesses, streaming services and music venues to boycott the R&B singer. 

A statement from the group, which includes director Ava Duvernay and singer Janelle Monae, called on women to dream of being “free from sexual assault, abuse and predatory behaviour”. 

“We demand appropriate investigations and inquiries into the allegations of R Kelly’s abuse made by women of colour and their families for over two decades now,” the statement read. 

It cited the guilty verdict handed to Bill Cosby in his sexual assault retrial as a catalyst for the new campaign. Kelly has denied all allegations of sexual abuse made against him.