R. Kelly Publicist’s Press Conference Interrupted by Joycelyn Savage’s Father
Written by SOURCE on July 12, 2019
Friday morning, a press conference held in Atlanta by R. Kelly publicist Darrell Johnson was interrupted by the family of alleged victim Joycelyn Savage.
The presser was held the morning after Kelly was arrested in Chicago in the wake of two federal indictments in Illinois and New York, respectively. That arrest, at least according to a report from Page Six, came after a Homeland Security Investigations agent watched the Lifetime docu-series Surviving R. Kelly.
“I don’t wanna hear all that,” Timothy Savage, Joycelyn’s father, shouted during the presser. “I wanna know where my daughter’s at! Answer that question!”
Johnson pushed back against subsequent questions from attendees regarding any possibility of him also facing charges, affirming that he was “hired to do a job” and is “not an enabler.”
The 13-count Illinois federal indictment includes charges connected with child pornography, enticement of a minor, and obstruction of justice. Specifically, Kelly and then-manager Derrel McDavid are accused of engaging in a conspiracy that involved intimidating, threatening, pressuring, persuading, and attempting to persuade individuals with alleged access to reported videotapes of Kelly engaging in sexual acts with minors to return said tapes. These efforts, per the Illinois indictment, are alleged to have included the use of a polygraph exam.
Arraignment on the Illinois counts is scheduled for July 16.
The New York federal indictment, meanwhile, sees Kelly being hit with additional counts including racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which—after multiple legislative amendments—is now aimed at the prevention of transportation of an individual for the purposes of “any sexual activity that may be charged as a crime.”
The New York indictment also alleges that Kelly and “the enterprise” engaged in/facilitated sexual activity without revealing a sexually transmitted disease Kelly had. Kelly and the enterprise are also alleged to have recruited women and girls for the purposes of illegal sexual acts, a pattern that’s alleged to have been facilitated using rules for the women and girls including not allowing them to “look at other men.” They were also allegedly required to call Kelly “Daddy.”
Kelly attorney Steve Greenberg told NBC New York that the indictments were not a surprise, adding that they “look forward to his day in court.” As it stands now, Kelly is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago.
