Regina Wagner/Future Image/WENN.com
Lady Gaga has broken her silence on disgraced R&B musician R. Kelly. Recently a docuseries called Surviving R. Kelly was released on Lifetime. The series explored in detail the sexual abuse, manipulation and pedophilia Kelly has allegedly done. They interviewed survivors of the musician, their parents, people from R. Kelly’s circle and even his own brother.
The only major musician that spoke out against Kelly in the docuseries was John Legend. Many were asked to participate including Lady Gaga and past collaborators.
Despite not being in the docuseries, Lady Gaga has broken her silence on collaborating with the alleged predator.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsbgJDqF0jE/
“I stand behind these women 100%, believe them, know they are suffering and in pain, and feel strongly that their voices should be heard and taken seriously. What I am hearing about the allegations against R Kelly is absolutely horrifying and indefensible,” Gaga wrote on Twitter.
The A Star Is Born star and the musician put out a song together “Do What U Want (With My Body)” in 2013 off of her Artpop album.
Gaga continued, “As a victim of sexual assault myself, I made both the song and video at a dark time in my life, my intention was to create something extremely defiant and provocative because I was angry and still hadn’t processed the trauma that had occurred in my own life. The song is called “Do What U Want (With My Body)”, I think it’s clear how explicitly twisted my thinking was at the time.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnh6zkvFifU/
Gaga has spoken openly about the own sexual abuse she has endured. She wrote that son “Til It Happens to You” for the campus rape documentary The Hunting Ground. The song was nominated for an Oscar. Gaga delivered a powerful performance on stage with a handful of sexual assault survivors.
During press for the song, she opened up to the New York Times about her own rape. The assault happened when she was 19 and she told the Times she didn’t tell anyone for seven years what happened to her.
“I didn’t know how to think about it. I didn’t know how to accept it,” Gaga told the Times in 2015. “I didn’t know how not to blame myself, or think it was my fault. It was something that really changed my life. It changed who I was completely.”
She first talked about her rape to Howard Stern in 2014.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnMr3cYn5qT/
Gaga’s apology about working with Kelly continued, “If I could go back and have a talk with my younger self I’d tell her to go through the therapy I have since then, so that I could understand the confused post-traumatic state that I was in–or if therapy was not available to me or anyone in my situation–to seek help, and speak as openly and honestly as possible about what we’ve been through. I can’t go back, but I can go forward and continue to support women, men, and people of all sexual identities, and of all races, who are victims of sexual assault.”
I stand by anyone who has ever been the victim of sexual assault: pic.twitter.com/67sz4WpV3i
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) January 10, 2019
“I have demonstrated my stance on this issue and others many times throughout my career I share this not to make excuses for myself, but to explain. Til it happens to you, you don’t know how it feels. But I do know how I feel now.”
She ended her statement by declaring that she will be taking the song off of streaming sites and vow to never work with Kelly again.
“I intend to remove this song off of iTunes and other streaming platforms and will not be working with him again. I’m sorry, both for my poor judgment when I was young, and for not speaking out sooner. I love you.”
