Spotify scraps R. Kelly music from its playlists
Thanks to a new "public hate content and hateful conduct policy," Spotify has decided to remove all traces of R. Kelly's music from its playlist offerings, reported Billboard.
Fans won't hear the R&B singer's tracks on any Spotify flagship playlist, such as New Music Friday and RapCaviar.
In a statement, Spotify explained to Billboard, "We are removing R. Kelly's music from all Spotify owned and operated playlists and algorithmic recommendations," adding, "His music will still be available on the service, but Spotify will not actively promote it."
The statement continued: "We don't censor content because of an artist's or creator's behavior, but we want our editorial decisions -- what we choose to program -- to reflect our values. When an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful, it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator."
In a statement, R. Kelly's management team said: "We appreciate Spotify for continuing to make R. Kelly’s songs accessible to millions of people, although it will stop listing his songs on its official playlists.
"Spotify is adopting a new 'Hate Content & Hateful Conduct' policy. R. Kelly never has been accused of hate, and the lyrics he writes express love and desire.
"Mr. Kelly for 30 years has sung songs about his love and passion for women. He is innocent of the false and hurtful accusations in the ongoing smear campaign against him, waged by enemies seeking a payoff. He never has been convicted of a crime, nor does he have any pending criminal charges against him.
"Spotify has the right to promote whatever music it chooses, and in this case its actions are without merit. It is acting based on false and unproven allegations. It is bowing to social-media fads and picking sides in a fame-seeking dispute over matters that have nothing to do with serving customers.
"Meanwhile, though, Spotify promotes numerous other artists who are convicted felons, others who have been arrested on charges of domestic violence and artists who sing lyrics that are violent and anti-women in nature.
"Mr. Kelly falls into none of these categories, and it is unfortunate and shortsighted that Spotify fails to recognize this," the statement concluded.
Over the years, R. Kelly has been accused of sexual misconduct many times, including 21 counts of child pornography. R. Kelly, whose birth name is Robert Kelly, was acquitted on those pornography charges back in 2008, ending a six-year investigation.
Still, an online campaign titled #MuteRKelly, which began last month, continues to gain momentum. The campaign was created by a subgroup of the Time's Up movement called Women of Color and lists a number of allegations made against the singer, including a 2017 Buzzfeed report that he held several young women in a "cult," and asks companies to stop doing business with him.
"R. Kelly supports the pro-women goals of the Time’s Up movement. We understand criticizing a famous artist is a good way to draw attention to those goals -- and in this case, it is unjust and off-target," his representative told ABC News at the time. "We fully support the rights of women to be empowered to make their own choices. Time’s Up has neglected to speak with any of the women who welcome R. Kelly’s support, and it has rushed to judgment without the facts. Soon it will become clear Mr. Kelly is the target of a greedy, conscious and malicious conspiracy to demean him, his family and the women with whom he spends his time."
Lifetime is also developing an investigative documentary series and movie about the artist. As of now, there are few details about the untitled movie, but the yet-to-be-titled doc series will feature survivors and people from Kelly's "inner circle" to share their personal stories about Kelly.
ABC News' Joi-Marie McKenzie contributed to this report.
