Skrillex Doesn’t Think JAY-Z Needs to Pull R. Kelly Collabs

Skrillex doesn’t see an issue with JAY-Z leaving his songs with R. Kelly up. 

The EDM producer answered questions from TMZ about the ongoing fallout from Surviving R. Kelly, ultimately saying that whatever Jigga decides to do with his music is his decision. 

“You know, I don’t think he needs to do so. It’s hard. It’s like, look: There’s a word. It’s called ‘occhiolism.’ It’s the awareness of the smallness of your own perspective,” he said. “If JAY-Z wants to keep it’s music because it’s music he made a long time ago, it’s part of the archives, it’s part of history. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad person. That doesn’t mean he supports bad people.”

Skrillex also added that people who don’t want to associate with R. Kelly don’t have to listen to those old songs. The producer then veered into the slippery slope historical argument that is often used whenever a group wants to remove monuments or celebrations of bad actors.  

“Some people are more tolerant of things that upset us,” he said. “We have a lot of bad stories in history. We can’t go too far and…cover our eyes from everything in the world.”

Skrillex claimed that he lost interest in R. Kelly as an artist after his trial in the early ’00s. And while he hedged a bit, he did say that he supports Sony’s decision to drop the singer from their label.  

“I think everyone in their own sort of private world should make their own choices, but I support that,” Skillex said. Watch the interview above.