Chance The Rapper Puts His R. Kelly Comment Into Context
“Making a song with R. Kelly was a mistake.”
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Lifetime put together a documentary series titled Surviving R. Kelly, in which Chance The Rapper has gone on the record in an interview with Jamila Lemieux to say that “Making a song with R. Kelly was a mistake.”
Apparently part of his statement included in the series, “I didn’t value the accusers’ stories, like, because they were black women,” was taken out of context. And, immediately after the program aired, Chance released the full interview on Twitter as well as a note that further clarified what he meant.
“The quote was taken out of context,” he wrote. “But the truth is any of us who ever ignored the R. Kelly stories, or ever believed he was being set up/attacked by the system (as black men often are) were doing so at the detriment of black women and girls.”
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) January 6, 2019
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) January 6, 2019
Following up, Chance also tweeted in response to some reactions: “Anyone mentioning that I have black women in my family is deliberately missing the point. Regardless of the proximity of beneficial BW in your life, or being black yourself, we are all capable of subconsciously discrediting BW and their stories because its indoctrinated.”
Anyone mentioning that I have black women in my family is deliberately missing the point. Regardless of the proximity of beneficial BW in your life, or being black yourself, we are all capable of subconsciously discrediting BW and their stories because its indoctrinated.
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) January 6, 2019
Image: Chance The Rapper shot by Richard Kern for Oyster #103