Two women described as being “within R Kelly’s inner circle” have resigned from their roles, following new sexual misconduct allegations.
Diana Copeland, who worked as his executive assistant for over 10 years, and Linda Mensch, the rapper’s entertainment attorney, have both ceased working with the star.
The news was revealed by the BBC, who report that Copeland stopped working with R Kelly on Sunday 1 April. Mensch then confirmed that she “no longer represented Mr Kelly or his entities”.
When HuffPost UK contacted R Kelly’s publicist for comment on the resignations, they stated that: “Effective April 16, 2018, I no longer represent Mr. Robert Kelly.”
Their decisions follow the release of the BBC Three documentary ‘R Kelly: Sex, Girls and Videotapes’, whichfeatured several people who accuse Kelly of predatory behaviour.
In the documentary, his ex-girlfriend Kitti Jones said the singer forced her and other women to have sex with him in a “sex dungeon”.
“I was introduced to one of the girls that he told me he ‘trained’ since she was 14, those were his words,” she said. “I saw that she was dressed like me, that she was saying the things I’d say and her mannerisms were like mine.
“That’s when it clicked in my head that he had been grooming me to become one of his pets. He calls them his pets.”
Jones went on to say that the undisclosed woman was made to crawl along the floor and perform a sex act on her, while R Kelly allegedly stated: “This is my fucking pet, I trained her. She’s going to teach you how to be with me.”
When contacted by BBC Three ahead of the film’s release, R Kelly did not comment.
Last year, Jones was one of three women who came forward to accuse R Kelly of holding young women in a sexually abusive “cult”, where their clothes, eating habits, sexual behaviour and even when they are allowed to bathe is controlled.
A statement via Mensch, who was his lawyer at the time, said: “Robert Kelly is both alarmed and disturbed at the recent revelations attributed to him. Mr Kelly unequivocally denies such allegations.”