After the first clips from CBS This Morning anchor Gayle King’s interview with R&B singer R. Kelly was released, one Twitter user matched one of the most explosive parts with music from his single, “Trapped in the Closet.”
i don’t remember this chapter of r kelly’s trapped in the closet but ok pic.twitter.com/6MlyzU9fEe
— daniel robert (@danielryount) March 6, 2019
King filmed the interview earlier this week, and it aired in two parts on CBS This Morning before it was edited into a one-hour special that debuted Friday night. Kelly insisted the allegations he sexually abused young women are false, at one point telling King he is “fighting for my f—ing life.”
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“Stop it. You all quit playing! Quit playing! I didn’t do this stuff! This is not me! I’m fighting for my f—ing life! Y’all killing me with this s—! I gave you 30 years of my f—ing career,” Kelly said in tears as he got up.
“Thirty years of my career! And y’all trying to kill me? You killing me, man! This is not about music!” the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer continued. “I’m trying to have a relationship with my kids! And I can’t do it! Y’all just don’t want to believe the truth! You don’t want to believe it!”
Twitter user Daniel Robert later took this segment and matched it with the famous music from Kelly’s operatic “Trapped in the Closet.” The video has been seen more than 2 million times, while the tweet has been retweeted almost 2,000 times.
“Trapped in the Closet” is an opera about a man’s one-night stand that continues to build into a greater, more confusing story as it unfolds. Kelly released it in 33 chapters from 2002 to 2012, with music videos for each chapter edited into movies. It has been parodied countless times, most famously in a 2005 South Park episode on Scientology.
Kelly’s interview with King was filmed while he was out on bail after he was arrested on 10 counts of aggravated sexual assault, related to the alleged abuse of four victims over a 12-year period. The day after the interview, Kelly was arrested again for failing to pay child support. His next court hearing on the sexual assault charges is set for March 22.
Throughout the interview, Kelly repeatedly denied the allegations he faces, including that he leads a “sex cult” of young women.
“Everybody says something bad about me. Nobody said nothing good,” Kelly said of Surviving R. Kelly, the Lifetime documentary series about the allegations. “They was describing Lucifer. I’m not Lucifer.”
Kelly continued, “Just a lot of rumors that suggest that I’m handcuffing people, starving people. I have a harem – whatcha call it, a cult. I don’t even know what a cult is. But I know I don’t have one.”
King also interviewed Jocelyn Savage and Azriel Clary, who both claim to be Kelly’s girlfriends and defended the singer. They accused the media of working with their parents, who believe Kelly brainwashed them.
“This is all f—ing lies for money and if you can’t see that you’re ignorant and you’re stupid as f— because you want to be. All because that’s the world we live in,” Clary told King. “Negativity sells. Gossip is what sells. Rumors are what sell.”
Photo credit: Getty Images
