*Following the premiere of “Surviving R. Kelly,” many celebs took to social media to slam or distance themselves from the artist, including Lady Gaga John Legend, Chance The Rapper, Meek Mill, Omarion and most recently Mathew Knowles.
The former manager of Destiny’s Child says he and ex-wife Tina refused to let the girl group work with R. Kelly, as they were aware of the rumors and sexual assault allegations.
via Metro:
The 67-year-old, the father of Beyonce and Solange, told us: ‘I was there, and my former wife Tina was there. The thing with R Kelly was, he liked to record late at night, around midnight. And what was different with his studio was that one room had a recording suite, and next door was a club, with 40 or 50 people dancing.
‘R Kelly was managed by Sony, by someone I won’t name, and at that time, they would almost force you to record with [their] artists. ‘And R Kelly wasn’t cheap – it was $75,000, plus travel costs, so we’re talking $100,000 for a song.
‘I personally rejected the song, because I didn’t think it was a good song. Not just because of [his] reputation – this was around 1998, we had just begun to hear some of those things.’
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However, when we asked Mathew if the rumours surrounding R Kelly played a role in his decisions from then on, he said ‘certainly, it was both of those things’.
The music manager said: ‘The girls were 15, 16. When they went to the bathroom, Tina would go with them. They did not leave our eyes.’
A source told Metro.co.uk: “Record labels would ask R Kelly to write songs for emerging artists as a way to help them break into the industry and he made several requests for Destiny’s Child. Mathew and Tina rejected all of them because they didn’t want him anywhere near the band which is why they are one of the few acts to debut in the 90s without an R Kelly song in its official discography.”
R Kelly wrote one song for Destiny’s Child, “Stimulate Me,” which appeared on the soundtrack for the 1999 Eddie Murphy film “Life.”
However, according to the report, Kelly was not in the studio when the girls were recording with producer Jermaine Dupri. Said a source: “Mathew didn’t want it on any official Destiny’s Child’s albums so it didn’t appear.”
