John Legend Speaks Out About Surviving R. Kelly: 'I Believe These Women'

Thursday night (January 3), Lifetime premiered its long-awaited documentary series Surviving R. Kelly, where producer Dream Hampton shines a light on the singer's history of alleged sexual abuse, often against minors. Some of the females interviewed include his ex-wife Andrea Kelly, who revealed to The View in October that Kelly had abused her, and Kitti Jones, who also told her own abuse experiences with Kelly to Megyn Kelly Today in May.


Among those interviewed are musicians Stephanie "Sparkle" Edwards — who compared R. Kelly to Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein — and John Legend. Legend followed up his appearance with a series of tweets condemning Kelly and affirming his support for the victims.


"To each person telling me how courageous I am for appearing in the doc, it didn't feel risky at all. I believe these females and don't give a fuck about protecting a serial child rapist. Easy decision," he wrote.


Hampton discussed with the Detroit Free Press how she had asked other celebrities and musicians to participate in the series, yet they declined.


once it comes to celebrities, it was incredibly hard to get people who'd collaborated with Kelly to come forward. We asked Lady Gaga. We asked Erykah Badu. We asked Celine Dion. We asked Jay-Z. We asked Dave Chappelle," Hampton said.


The series continues on Friday (January 5) and concludes on Saturday (January 6) at 9 p.M. ET/PT on Lifetime.