Erykah Badu has come under fire after defending R. Kelly at her concert at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom.
During her set, Badu took a moment to share that she’s “puttin’ up a prayer right now” for the disgraced singer. Badu continued “I hope he sees the light of day if he’s done all those things that we’ve seen on TV and heard those ladies talk about. I hope he sees the light of day and comes forward.”
Badu’s comments were met with a mixed response from the crowd. As boos and cheers intensified and crowd members began to cheer “Fuck him!” Badu came to the defence of Kelly.
“Y’all say ‘fuck it!’ See, that’s not love. That’s not unconditional. But what if one of the people that was assaulted by R. Kelly grows up to be an offender, we gonna crucify them? I mean how do we do this? Just something to think about.”
You can watch footage of the incident below.
Fans are evidently disappointed by the comments Badu has made, taking to Twitter to air their frustrations:
Love Music?
Your daily dose of everything happening in Australian music and globally.
https://twitter.com/meechskates/status/1087009607619411971
https://twitter.com/indigotawn/status/1086986067734134784
https://twitter.com/jacquemarquez_/status/1086852779614846976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1086852779614846976&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.complex.com%2Fmusic%2F2019%2F01%2Ferykah-badu-defends-r-kelly
As COS notes, Erykah Badu introduced R. Kelly at the 2015 Soul Train Awards, where she claimed that he “has done more for black people than anyone.”
