Legendary soul songstress Stephanie Mills shared her thoughts on a number of hot topics during a recent interview with The Root, including Jennifer Lopez’s controversial Motown Tribute at The Grammys, Michael Jackson’s “Leaving Neverland” doc and R. Kelly’s sexual abuse case.
Mills said that while she’s convinced the R&B hitmaker is guilty, she also believes his ex-wife Andrea Kelly should be indicted right along with him for overlooking his perverse behavior.
“I believe that R. Kelly should go to jail for what he’s done,” Mills said. “I don’t believe that his music should be muted. And I also believe that the handlers and his ex and his ex-wife and all of that to go to jail, too. You cannot tell me you live in a house with a man and you don’t know what’s going on. That is not true. I don’t believe that. She should go to jail, too. And so should the handlers that helped him.”
For her part, Andrea claimed in the “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary that she too was abused by the singer.
“It started with yelling and being slapped and grabbed,” she said in the doc about the alleged abuse. “He chips away at your self-esteem, your ability to even think. You’re just thinking, ‘What do I do to not piss him off?’”
She also thinks Kelly’s music shouldn’t be tied to his alleged crimes.
“Him writing his music has nothing to do with that. Him being an entertainer and a star,” she said. “And those parents bringing those children to the show and then allowing him— I have a son; there’s no way I would take my son to a Bruno Mars show, and say “OK, Bruno, you can mentor my son. I’m gonna let him stay with you.’ There’s no way.”
