Joshua Lott/Reuters
Prominent women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred on Monday accused R&B singer R. Kelly of attempting to intimidate one of his alleged victims in a threatening letter. Allred held a press conference alongside Faith Rogers, who accused the singer of “sexual battery,” “willfully, deliberately and maliciously” giving her herpes, and “mentally, sexually and verbally” abusing her after she entered into a relationship with him when she was 19 and he was 51. During the conference, Allred claimed that after Rogers filed a lawsuit against the singer, R. Kelly sent her lawyer a note that threatened to reveal details of Rogers’ sex life if she continued with the lawsuit and claimed that R. Kelly would bring 10 male witnesses to testify about her past sexual behavior.
Allred condemned the letter Monday: “I say to Mr. Kelly and his attorney: Be careful what you go for,” she said, adding that “your disgusting tactics will not prevent women who alleged that they were victimized from telling their truth.” Rogers and her mother also spoke out against the alleged harassment they have received. The press conference comes weeks after the docuseries Surviving R. Kelly exposed gruesome details about the singer’s alleged abuse of young and underage women. When asked by a reporter what she would say to R. Kelly now, Rogers simply responded: “Time’s Up.”