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Danish radio silences US rapper Kelly over sex assault allegations

American rapper Robert Kelly was barred Tuesday from Danish radio over sexual assault allegations, a media group said.

Published: 5 February 2019 18:43 CET
Danish radio silences US rapper Kelly over sex assault allegations
R. Kelly in 2013. Photo: REUTERS/Andrea De Silva/File Photo/Ritzau Scanpix

Kelly, now 52, was convicted in 2002 over a video of himself committing sexual acts with a 14-year-old girl, but he was acquitted on appeal in 2008.

In the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly”, which was aired in early January, several women accused the singer and producer of having sex with underage girls and of having surrounded himself with women whom he made sex slaves.

“As a radio we have a responsibility on who we give the airtime to,” said Bauer Media official Tobias Nielsen. “It's very serious and we feel we can't have him on the playlists.”

Bauer Media runs The Voice, NOVA, Radio 100, Pop FM, Radio Soft and MyRock in Denmark, reaching around 2.7 million listeners each week in a country of 5.8 million.

A rhythm and blues star in the 1980s, the rapper goes by the stage name R. Kelly.

The artist, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, has been accused for
decades of child pornography, sex with minors, operating a sex cult and sexual
battery.

According to an investigation opened in New York and several local media, R. Kelly is already under investigation in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.

In recent months, and particularly after the documentary's release, the movement #MuteRKelly — designed to prevent the playing of his music — has gained pace.

So far the Atlanta-based organisation says it has prompted the cancellation of 12 concerts, including in Europe, and caused Kelly to lose an estimated $1.75 million (1.5 million euros) in revenue.

Last month Sony Music dropped Kelly over the allegations.

The singer has seen his reputation more and more seriously hard hit.

Calls for a boycott gathered pace thanks to the #MeToo and Time's Up movements and via the #MuteRKelly hashtag on Twitter.

READ ALSO: Notorious Danish film producer vows to stop 'slapping asses'

METOO

‘When I said no’: Danish women in campaign against sexual assault victim blaming

Women in Denmark have joined a social media movement responding to victim blaming of women who have suffered sexual violence and harassment.

Published: 20 July 2021 14:37 CEST
'When I said no': Danish women in campaign against sexual assault victim blaming
Illustration file photo: Issei Kato/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpi

Using the hashtag #dajegsagdefra, which translates loosely to ‘when I said no’, women have described assault, attacks, violence, harassment and humiliation against them which occurred or continued after they rejected the advances of an attacker.

The hashtag began to trend in response to social media comments suggesting women can avoid being assaulted simply by firmly ‘saying no’ (ved at sige fra). Such comments have been criticised as an attempt to place responsibility for sexual assault, violence and harassment with victims.

The discussion is linked to Denmark’s #MeToo debate, which remains a prominent issue in the country after thousands of women shared stories of sexual harassment in late 2020.

READ ALSO:

 In the hashtagged tweets, the women describe situations of sexual assault or harassment which escalated after they told the aggressor to stop.

Kirstine Holst, the chairperson of support organisation Voldtægtsofres Vilkår, is among those to have shared personal accounts.

“When I said no I was held by the throat and raped”, Holst’s tweet reads.

Another voice in the Danish debate, Khaterah Parwani, is also among those to have tweeted using the hashtag.

Parwani is director of Løft, an organisation which works against negative social control.

She described several incidents in which she was subjected to violence and abuse after saying no to an aggressor, including being “unrecognisable at hospital” after an attack and “beaten up in a car and lying bleeding on a wet pavement”.

A number of Twitter uses in Denmark also highlighted on Tuesday a report issued by police in North Zealand of an incident in which a 22-year-old man punched and kicked a 15-year-old girl after she asked him to stop whistling at her and friends, and told him her age.

That incident occurred in the town of Espergærde.

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