‘MacGyver’ Not Airing Friday Night Due to CBS News’ Special R. Kelly Interview

CBS is not airing a new episode of MacGyver Friday night because of a special highlighting Gayle King‘s explosive interview with R. Kelly for CBS News.

MacGyver typically airs on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET, but CBS is airing CBS News: The Gayle King Interview with R. Kelly instead this week. The episode “Seeds + Permafrost + Feather” was scheduled to air this week, but has now been pushed to Friday, March 15. That means the original March 15 episode, “Murdoc + Helman + Hit,” will air on Friday, March 22.

In “Seeds + Permafrost + Feather,” MacGyver and his team have to solve a locked-door mystery when a man somehow gets inside an ultra-secure international seed vault and disappears. The series stars Lucas Till in the title role, along with Tristin Mays as Riley Davis, Justin Hires and Wilt Bozer as Meredith Eaton as Matty.

Parts of King’s interview with Kelly aired on CBS This Morning on Wednesday and Thursday. In the interview, the embattled R&B singer insisted he is innocent, even after being indicted on 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse. The “Trapped in the Closet” singer told King he is being “buried alive” and “assassinated.” He said the women who have accused him of holding them against their will, having sex with them when they were underage and assaulted them are lying.

“Use your common sense. Forget the blogs, forget how you feel about me. Hate me if you want to, love me if you want. But just use your common sense,” Kelly told King through tears. “How stupid would it be for me, with my crazy past and what I’ve been through – oh right, now I just think I have to be monster, and hold girls against their will, chain them up in my basement, and don’t let them eat, don’t let them out, unless they need some shoes down the street from their uncle!”

In the interview, Kelly got up while King held her composure and tried to calm him down. However, he continued yelling.

“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 as he stood up. “Thirty years of my career! And y’all trying to kill me? You killing me, man! This is not about music! 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!”

King also spoke to Azriel Clary and Joycelyn Savage, two women living with Kelly in Chicago. Both consider themselves his girlfriends, while their parents accused Kelly of brainwashing their daughters. The women claimed their parents told them to lie about their age when they met Kelly to convince him they were older than they were.

After the Kelly interview, CBS is airing new episodes of Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods as previously scheduled.

Photo credit: CBS