Joining a growing group of voices who have alleged R. Kelly has a history of sexual abuse and harassment, two new accusers, Asante McGee and Kitti James, appeared on Megyn Kelly Today to detail their respective histories of dating the rapper. James spent two years living in R. Kelly’s Chicago home while the two were in a relationship, and said during that time she couldn’t do anything, even the most banal of activities, without obtaining his permission. “I had to wear sweatpants. I had to stand up when he would walk into a room. I had to be on his phone plan,†she explained. “He would put a lot of his girlfriends on his phone plan so he could control who you were talking to, how often you talked to your family, what you were texting, things like that.†This control even included James’s trips to the bathroom: “You would have to send a text message to one of his runners, just asking if you could go to the restroom, and they would relay the information to him. You weren’t free to walk throughout the house.â€
McGee says she dated R. Kelly for two years and spent a month living in his home, after a few months of traveling around the country with him for his tour. “When I was on the sprinter, I had to use the restroom. I would text him, Daddy, I need to use the restroom. We were required to call him Daddy,†she explained. “You would address him as Daddy. If you didn’t, you would get in trouble. Or slapped.â€
Both women agree that Joycelyn Savage, whose parents say she is being held against her will by R. Kelly at his home, has been fully “brainwashed†by the rapper. As for R. Kelly himself, he has continually denied all of the allegations lodged against him, saying in a recent statement that he has “close friendships with a number of women who are strong, independent, happy, well cared for and free to come and go as they please.â€