Source: Chicago Tribune / Getty
Night one of
Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning featured even
more damning revelations and accounts
from survivors of the singer’s predatory behavior. Night two of the documentary kept its foot on the neck of the disgraced singer as we hear more tales of Kelly’s alleged abusive sexual relationships with underage Black girls and his possible attraction to men and boys as well.
Episode three begins where last night’s ended with survivor Lanita Carter. Carter used to work for Kelly back in the 2000s as the singer’s hair braider. She reveals the job didn’t pay well at all, with Kelly only giving her $100 for her services, which she was very proud to provide, being that he was a celebrity, and that opened the door to other clients. Carter finally gets into the harrowing details about the night things all changed in what she described as the “brother/sister” relationship she had with Kelly.
Carter tells the story in geat tearful detail about the encounter she had with Kelly of how he demanded oral sex from her, and when Carter resisted, he forced himself on her and ejaculated on her face. After the incident, Carter called her cousin and asked him to beat up Kelly, but he told her the singer was too famous for that to happen. He suggested her best course of action would be through the legal system, so she called the police, and an investigation soon followed. We quickly learn that her attempt at holding Kelly criminally responsible for his actions would be a dead-end following an intense round of questioning from the Grand Jury. Like his other accusers, prosecutors suggested she should seek a settlement. She was given money and signed a non-disclosure agreement but decided to break it and come forward because she said: “Money does not heal you. Money does not cover up what you feel.”
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Speaking of NDA’s we also leaned that Kelly allegedly forced the survivors and their families to sign documents. Kelly’s current “girlfriend”
Joycelyn Savage was forced to sign a document stating that her father molested her, both parents claim. The Savages claimed that if Joycelyn ever spoke out against Kelly, the singer would release the signed document. The Savage’s deny their daughter was ever molested by her father or anyone else in the family.
Another survivor Halle Calhoun who met Kelly when she was 20 following a concert she attended with her mom, also spoke on the situation where her mother was asked to sign false documents. Calhoun became Kelly’s girlfriend following their initial encounter and lived with him for three and a half years, where she claims he was often abusive to her. According to Calhoun, Kelly requested her mother meet him in a private sauna wearing only a towel to ensure their conversation wasn’t being recorded. That is where Kelly asked Calhoun’s mother to sign the documents that would protect him if Calhoun was ever asked questions about their relationship.
The fourth episode pretty much focuses on survivor Dominique Gardner. We first met Dominique during Part I of
Surviving R. Kelly docuseries that aired back in 2019, where her mother desperately tried to convince her to come home and was rescued by her mom, Michelle Kramer, on May 11, 2018. We learned that Dominique was introduced to Kelly by fellow survivor, Jerhonda Pace, nine years ago, who also revealed in Part II that she had allegedly had a
suicide pact with Kelly in the event he was arrested.
Gardner agreed to take part in the docuseries, and she detailed the abuse she endured during her nine-year relationship with Kelly. She was described as “rebellious” and “talkative” and was known to disobey the singer’s “rules” he had established for his “girlfriends.” She would either talk back to Kelly or get food without his permission, and as punishment received “whoopings” with anything the singer could find like extension chords or other items her mother told producers. Kelly’s physical abuse of Gardner was so bad he allegedly pulled out patches of her hair, forcing her to cut it short.
Despite escaping, the damage inflicted on Gardner mentally still lingered. Dominique’s mother details her daughter suffering from insomnia and abusing drugs and alcohol. Even though she was no longer physically with Kelly, she was still scared about breaking the singer’s rules. Three weeks after her escape from the Cult of Kelly, she decided to return because Gardner felt she “didn’t 100 percent leave on her own,” and she wanted to check on Joycelyn Savage. Gardner reveals she didn’t face no consequences upon her return and even formed a “bond” with Kelly, but when he didn’t allow her to attend her brother’s graduation, she decided to leave once again.
Also touched was Kelly’s alleged attraction to men and young boys. A former employee whos identity was kept secret and voice was altered during the episode claimed that Kelly would have one man participate in his sexual acts with his alleged victims. She stated:
“I was not aware of Robert having attractions to boys until a couple of the girls in the house started to talk about there being a guy that he was involved with who would sometimes come into the bedroom with them.”
Also, Kelly did have Dominique Gardner alter her appearance to start looking like a boy her mother claimed.
Surviving R. Kelly Part II also touched on the parodying of the infamous
Gayle King interview and internet memes that spawned from it.
Dave Chappelle’s “Piss On You” skit was brought up as well as his Netflix stand-up comedy special,
Sticks and Stones. On it, the comedian joked he knew Kelly was guilty. Author and music journalist Jim DeRogatis spoke on how big of an impact it would be Chappelle just took a minute of his time to speak out against Kelly.
“How powerful would it have been if Chappelle took a minute and a half to say, ‘I had some skits back in the day about R. Kelly, and now I have been made to realize the pain he caused people who could have been my daughters, my sisters, my wife. And it’s wrong, I mean, that would have counted. That would have mattered. Chappelle never did that.”
The reactions, of course, poured in during and after night two of
Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning. You can see them all in the gallery below.
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Photo: Chicago Tribune / Getty
