‘Me Too’ Founder Tarana Burke Has a Message for People Who Still Listen to R. Kelly: You’re Supporting Abuse

By Susan Johnes

If we can recall, #MuteRKelly campaign was started last year by Oronike Odeleye and Kenyette Barnes to remove R. Kelly’s music from the airwaves and hold him accountable for the numerous sexual scandals against him.

The movement soon gained traction when ‘Me Too’ founder Tarana Burke expressed her support for the course and has since been a vocal supporter of the #MuteRKelly campaign.

Following Burke’s move, R. Kelly released a statement in May calling the movement “attempted public lynching.”
But Burke wasn’t having’ it. “This is not a lynching,” she responded.

“You know, we are only a week out of the national monument to lynching being opened in Montgomery, Alabama, and the history and the reality of lynching in America is so painful and so real. This is not a public lynching. This is a call for public accountability.”

Unfortunately, Tarana Burke has realized folks are still listening to the singer’s music. That’s why she came out with a strong message for music fans who think they can still listen to R Kelly’s music despite his two-decade history of sexual misconduct allegations:

“You’re supporting the abuse of young Black women and girls,” she began. “We’re talking about a man who systematically preys on Black and Brown girls, and I have people on a regular basis tell me, ‘It’s just a song.’”
“Every dime you put in that motherf**er’s pocket he is using it to brutalize Black and Brown children,” she said.

The same sentiments were echoed by Tamika Mallory, one of the co-founders of the Women’s March, who also noticed fans have a difficult time turning off the singer’s music.

“A lot of people will like something that I do [on social media], and then when have a rally–which is when we’re taking the force to the front of the problem–and not enough people show up. So the balance is off,” Mallory said.

“What happens is sometimes people sit back and say, ‘Ok, maybe on social media it’s important, but it’s not essential regarding our bottom dollar,” she continued.

A few months ago, Burke also reminded the audience that the Me Too movement is for Black women and girls.
“The Me Too movement is for you and we have to stop giving up our power,” she said.

“When you say it’s not yours when I’m looking you in your face and telling you, I started this for you, and you let white people tell you it’s somebody else’s? This is yours,” Burke added. “Reclaim your power and stop giving it up to other people.”

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