More survivors of R. Kelly's alleged abuse are ready to share their stories with the world.
On Wednesday (December 11), Lifetime announced the release date for the follow-up to its wildly successful documentary Surviving R. Kelly, which shared harrowing recounts of Kelly's alleged sexual abuse — told by seven alleged survivors — over the last 20-plus years.
The upcoming six-hour series, titled Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning, is set to air on January 2 and will run for two hours a night for three consecutive nights, concluding on Saturday, January 4. The Reckoning picks up where Surviving R. Kelly: Part I left off, sharing interviews from new alleged survivors, music industry insiders (Damon Dash, Mathew Knowles, Jimmy Maynes), activists (#MeToo Founder Tarana Burke) and many others, such as W. Kamau Bell, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Angela Yee, Gloria Allred and State’s Attorney for Cook Country Kimberly M. Foxx, The Hollywood Reporter reports.
The docu-series will also share the fallout from the first documentary, showing Kelly — who was hit with 18+ counts of sexual misconduct and other charges in Chicago, New York, and Minnesota earlier this year — turn himself into police custody.
As previously reported, part one of the docu-series, which was viewed by nearly 27 million viewers to date, sparked the #MuteRKelly, led to Kelly being dropped from his label, and seven weeks after it was released, the disgraced singer was charged with his first set of felony charges — 10 counts of aggravated sexual assault.
Kelly is currently behind bars after being denied bail by a Brooklyn judge back in October. The disgraced singer had previously asked to be freed while awaiting trial because he claimed that he didn't have enough money to flee and was in poor health. However, Brooklyn prosecutors said that Kelly was lying about his financial status and even presented evidence to show that he directed his lucrative royalty checks into a friend's bank account.
Judge Ann Donnelly sided with prosecutors, denying the bail request, noting that Kelly is accused of committing crimes involving “very young girls,” his finances are “murky, to say the least” and his legal team's proposed home detention “certainly would do nothing to deter him” from intimidating witnesses, Page Six reported.
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