The parents of R. Kelly‘s girlfriend Joycelyn Savage are responding to his claims during Gayle King‘s CBS News interview.
King, who hosted a one-hour special dedicated to her conversation with the embattled singer following the massive response to clips from it for CBS This Morning, featured responses from the parents of one of Kelly’s girlfriends after claims that they received money from the singer.
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“I have known Robert for over five years, what they are saying is absolutely not true. He’s a good man, he’s a gentleman,” Savage says in the interview. Both Savage and Azriel Clary spoke with King for the interview to speak in support of Kelly.
As the special went on, King sporadically cut to a recent conversation with Savage’s parents, with her mother, Jonjelyn Savage, describing the clips of her daughter’s comments as “heartbreaking.”
Her parents explained to King that she met King at the age of 19 and she had big dreams to be in the music industry. They told the reporter that they had not seen Joycelyn in more than two years.
“Why would you in any way, shape or form want you daughter near someone like that?” King said, also reiterating the decades of allegations of sexual abuse Kelly has faced in his career.
“To answer that question, he was acquitted in 2008. I felt comfortable because at the time, I wish I didn’t, but I separated the artist from the man,” Jonjelyn said.
King asked Savage’s father, Tim, 45, how he feels about his daughter’s relationship with the singer, who is older than him.
“It doesn’t sit well with me, not one bit,” he said. “My daughter is being abused every day.”
During the interview, Kelly also claimed that his girlfriends’ parents accepted money from him so the young women would move in with him. Both Clary’s and Savage’s parents denied those claims.
“Let me make sure I’m clear,” Tim said. “I have never received any funds from R. Kelly. I have never asked for any money from R. Kelly. The only thing I’ve asked from R. Kelly is one thing. To see my daughter and make sure that she’s healthy and fine.”
King revealed later in the special that shortly after conducting the interview, Joycelyn called her parents for the first time in over two years briefly telling them on camera that she is “Okay and happy” as she has told them a million times before hanging up.
“He need to rot in jail,” Tim said when King asked what he would like to say to Kelly.
The singer is currently facing 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He is currently in jail for failing to pay over $161,000 in child support.
Photo credit: CBS News
