Lady Gaga apologizes for R. Kelly collaboration, vows to remove song from iTunes
Lady Gaga has apologized for her collaboration with R. Kelly and vowed to remove their "explicitly twisted" duet from iTunes and other streaming platforms.
Gaga, who was sexually assaulted at 19, said she stands with the women who accused Kelly of sexual, physical and emotional abuse in the recent Lifetime documentary, "Surviving R. Kelly."
Gaga spoke out against the embattled singer in a lengthy post on Instagram and Twitter early Thursday morning, telling fans that she would remove "Do What You Want (With My Body), her 2013 single with Kelly, as soon as possible.
"I stand behind these women 1000%, believe them, know they are suffering and in pain, and feel strongly that their voices should be heard and taken seriously," Gaga wrote. "What I am hearing about the allegations against R Kelly is absolutely horrifying and indefensible."
"I think it's clear how explicitly twisted my thinking was at the time," she added.
The pop icon said she recorded the song as an act of defiance and apologized for not speaking out sooner. She said she will not work with Kelly again.
"As a victim of sexual assault myself, I made both the song and video at a dark time in my life, my intention was to create something extremely defiant and provocative because I was angry and still hadn’t processed the trauma that had occurred in my own life," Gaga said. "I'm sorry, both for my poor judgment when I was young, and for not speaking out sooner."
Gaga had appeared to defend Kelly, who was acquitted of child pornography charges in 2008, at the time of the song's release.
"R. Kelly and I have sometimes very untrue things written about us, so in a way this was a bond between us," she said during a 2013 press conference. "That we were able to say, the public, they can have our bodies, but they cannot have our mind or our heart. It was a really natural collaboration."
Kelly has long denied any claims of sexual misconduct.
"Surviving R. Kelly," which aired from Jan. 3-5, included interviews with Kelly's family members and celebrities like Wendy Williams and fellow R&B singer John Legend. But its main goal was to give a voice to dozens of women who accused the hit-maker of long-term abuse, according to the creators.
Kelly's Chicago attorney, Steve Greenberg, disputed the claims mentioned in the documentary in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, calling them "another round of stories" being used to "fill reality TV time."
His dismissal came hours after Illinois Cook County District Attorney Kim Foxx revealed that she was "sickened" after watching the special. Foxx told ABC News that her office was in touch with two families seeking missing loved ones whom they believe have been at Kelly's home in the Chicago area.
She also encouraged other alleged victims to speak out.
"There is nothing that can be done to investigate these allegations without cooperation of victims and witnesses," Foxx said.
Foxx also confirmed that police had gone to Kelly's Chicago home to do a wellness check. Foxx said she has not been in touch with officials in Fulton County, Georgia, where one man accused Kelly of holding his daughter captive, according to a police report.
Kelly denied those claims, and Greenberg, his attorney, said Foxx was simply looking for attention.
"It is a disappointment that because of the publicity she feels the need to solicit random baseless accusations so people can have their TMZ moment," Greenberg told ABC News in a statement late Tuesday.
He said the claims in the series are "nothing" and that "if Mr. Kelly had done anything wrong you would expect to hear facts, not the pitchfork posse. As for the 'investigations' (sic), they will find nothing because he has done nothing wrong."
