After reports that Sony has all but blacklisted R. Kelly, the label and musician have “agreed to part ways,†Billboard reports. Amid the fallout from the Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly — which featured allegations of over 25 years of sexual abuse — Sony will no longer work with the artist. Variety reports that the Pied Piper’s back catalogue will remain with RCA/Sony, where he has been signed since the beginning of his career in the early ’90s. Representatives for RCA/Sony declined comment.
For over 20 years, Kelly has been the subject of allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct. In 2000, Kelly was charged with 21 counts of child pornography; he was acquitted in 2008. Over the years, many other women have accused him of physical or sexual abuse. After the Lifetime doc, police opened an investigation into allegations that Kelly is holding women against their will. Also amid the fallout from the documentary and the #MeToo movement, collaborators and peers, including Chance the Rapper, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Céline Dion, have denounced him. R. Kelly has continued to deny any allegation of sexual abuse, and tried to launch a Facebook page to attack his accusers.