R. Kelly, an American singer, has been sued by Faith Rodgers, a 20-year-old woman who claims he infected her with herpes, an incurable sexually transmitted disease (STD).
In the lawsuit, Rodgers said she was in a relationship with R. Kelly for about a year “under the auspices of helping her develop a career in entertainment”.
She said the singer told her that he wanted “to develop a long-term romantic relationship.”
Rodgers said she was 19 when she first met R.Kelly in 2017 after he had performed in San Antonio, Texas.
Weeks later, Faith said he facilitated her trip down to New York for one of his concerts and lodged her in a hotel.
After his show, Rodgers said the singer came to her room, ignored her warning that she was “not ready to have sex” and “initiated non-consensual oral and vaginal intercourse”.
Rodgers also claimed that R. Kelly subjected her to abuse, locked her in secluded rooms as punishment for not pleasing him sexually.
She said: “I was devastated. I was embarrassed; it’s not something that’s going to go away. The hardest part was coming clean to my family about everything […] I blame myself a lot.”
Rodgers said he also filmed her without her consent while performing sexual acts.
“He turned on all the lights, pulled out his iPad, and told me to get naked. He was demanding that I do stuff on camera that I wasn’t comfortable doing whatsoever,” she said.
Faith said although the singer asked her to sign a contract that would offer him “protection”, she refused to.
“During the course of their, approximately one-year relationship, Defendant R. Kelly, routinely engaged in intimidation, mental, verbal and sexual abuse, during and after sexual contact,” the suit states.
“Defendant’s conduct was designed to humiliate, embarrass, intimidate and shame plaintiff.”
This is not the first time the singer will be accused of sexual abuse.
A #MuteRKelly movement was launched in 2017 after allegations of alleged sexual slavery and assault were made against the singer.
The sponsors of the movement have called on radio, television and streaming platforms to stop playing R. Kelly’s songs.
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