R. Kelly’s estranged daughter, Buku Abi — who called her father a “monster†in a lengthy statement after the release of the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries in 2019 — has now alleged that the singer sexually abused her when she was 8 or 9 years old. Abi (born Joann Kelly) made the claims in a new two-part TVEI documentary called R. Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey. “I just remember waking up to him touching me,†she says in the second episode, per People. “And I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of laid there, and I pretended to be asleep.†In response, Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean told People in a statement that Kelly “vehemently denies†these allegations. “His ex-wife made the same allegation years ago, and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services and was unfounded,†the statement said. “And the ‘filmmakers,’ whoever they are, did not reach out to Mr. Kelly or his team to even allow him to deny these hurtful claims.â€
In the documentary, Abi says she “didn’t even want to believe†that it happened and was initially too scared to tell anybody, but eventually reported the alleged abuse to her mother, Andrea Kelly, in 2009 as a 10-year-old. According to Abi, she and Andrea made a police complaint, but no charges were filed because she had “waited too long.†In a 2014 legal filing seeking sole custody of her and Kelly’s three children, Andrea alleged that Kelly had molested a preteen girl referred to as Jane Doe in 2009. The motion, which was obtained by WBEZ in 2020, claims that Jane Doe’s mother was personally informed that a DCFS caseworker “believed that the events occurred,†but “had no choice but to deem the matter unfounded based on the length of time between the events occurring and Jane Doe reporting the incident.†Steve Greenberg, an attorney for Kelly at the time, denied the allegation to WBEZ as “100% false,†noting in a text message that it was “fully investigated by the police and DCFS and rejected.â€
Kelly’s current attorney Bonjean described her client in another statement to People as “the most investigated person on the planet when it comes to allegations of child sexual abuse,†going on to argue that if Abi’s allegations “had merit, we would have seen them in one of his many indictments.†Kelly was sentenced in 2023 to 20 years in prison after a Chicago trial on charges of child pornography and enticement of minors for sex. At that point, he had already been sentenced to 30 years in prison in a New York sex-crimes case. Kelly is serving these two sentences concurrently, and will be eligible for release in 2045. In A Daughter’s Journey, Abi says that based on “personal experience,†she thinks jail is a “well-suited place†for her father to be.