"Surviving R. Kelly" executive producer reacts to singer's CBS News interview
R. Kelly has broken his silence about the sexual abuse charges that landed him in jail last month. The embattled R&B singer spoke with "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King for nearly 80 minutes Tuesday, saying all the women now accusing him of physical and sexual abuse are lying. One of those reacting to that exclusive interview is the executive producer behind the Lifetime series "Surviving R. Kelly," who said she was in awe of Kelly's hubris and said she wanted him to experience a "social death."
Dream Hampton told CBSN's Tanya Rivero that R. Kelly did what she described as a bad performance of Brett Kavanaugh, who faced allegations of sexual assault and was grilled during a hearing on Capitol Hill last year before his confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"I would like his fans to finally turn away from him, to stop being able to vociferously talk about him not being guilty as if he's innocent. He did a very Brett Kavanaugh, a bad performance straight out of that playbook. I believe the many, many girls we talked to who survived R. Kelly."
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"We were 110 percent sure there was a possibility that we might get sued. So we vetted our stories, we required corroboration," Hampton told CBSN. "The foundation for our piece, of course, relies heavily on Jim DeRogatis' 28 years of reporting that began in December 2000. This is not about rumors or scorned girlfriends."
Hampton asked the victims what they would say to R. Kelly if he were watching.
"They all without fail said they want him to get help. A restorative justice process requires that the person causing harm, own that harm. And R. Kelly is so far from that. He is still in this stage of derailing, deflection, denial. I'm in awe. He could really have a reckoning, a public healing if you could just own the harm he has for three decades."
"It's clear he's no candidate for restorative justice. Perhaps jail is the only place for him," Hampton wrote in Time magazine Wednesday.
"It's really not my place to say if he should go to jail," Hampton said to CBSN. "We already have a system that has already failed one of his victims. In 2008, he was found not guilty for a myriad of reasons. But he was so unhinged. The fact that he was in the courtroom last week on his bond hearing that he rolled out the two women, who are less than 30 years. He's been accused of running a sex cult. His response to that is to roll out two of his girlfriends ... his response was to not only have them front and center at court, but to let Gayle King talk to them. I'm in awe of his hubris."
Kelly was taken back into custody Wednesday after a hearing in Chicago over unpaid child support.
Cook County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Sophia Ansari said Kelly will be transferred to the county jail. Darrell Johnson, who said he is an R. Kelly publicist, confirmed to reporters Kelly was taken into custody over the child support issue.
Ayanna Runcie contributed to this report.