R. Kelly’s relationship with RCA Records has ended, according to reports by Variety, Billboard and The New York Times. As of Friday, RCA Records, which…
R. Kelly’s relationship with RCA Records has ended, according to reports by Variety, Billboard and The New York Times.
As of Friday, RCA Records, which is owned by Sony Music, had removed the controversial singer from the list of artists on its website. USA TODAY has reached out to RCA for comment.
R. Kelly signed with Jive back in the ’90s when his career first took off. He became part of the Sony Music family after it acquired Jive, and he’s had a contract with RCA since 2012, according to Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter.
The news comes as the 52-year-old singer has been embroiled in controversy in recent weeks following January’s explosive docu-series “Surviving R. Kelly,” which detailed decades of sexual abuse allegations against him, including claims he abused underage girls, physically assaulted women and forced some women living with him to go without food.
Earlier this week, protesters swarmed Sony’s New York City headquarters, holding signs that demanded that the company drop Kelly, Rolling Stone and Vulture reported. Several activist groups came together to protest and delivered a petition with more than 200,000 signatures calling for RCA to cut ties with the singer, according to Care2, one of the groups involved in the protest.
