R. Kelly’s crisis manager, Darrell Johnson has issued a statement announcing his departure from the position following an earlier interview with Gayle King. As you might expect, managing all of the crises in R. Kelly’s life is no easy feat.
“I step down as crisis manager for personal reasons. Mr Kelly is in good hands with Mr Greenberg.” He said in a text to CNN.
R. Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg has also issued a statement thanking Mr Johnson for his “tireless” efforts during the disgraced star’s legal proceedings.
“He shares our confidence that this is an unprecedented assault against R. Kelly by others, for their own personal gain, and in the innocence of R. Kelly.” Mr Greenberg’s statement read.
Although Darrell Johnson claims he’s leaving for “personal reasons”, his recent interview may have uncovered that, as a father of girls himself, he may have had other issues working with Kelly.
In the interview, Johnson said that he would not feel comfortable leaving his own daughter alone with R. Kelly (which is quite possibly a smart idea considering the allegations against him.)
“I would not leave my daughter with anyone that’s accused of being a pedophile. I would not,” He declared in a Gayle King Interview.
R. Kelly’s crisis manager: “I would not leave my daughter with an accused pedophile.” https://t.co/9Y8ivPPJlD pic.twitter.com/C6IhvXZxfi
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) July 22, 2019
However, Mr Johnson later backpedalled on these comments, which could very easily be interpreted as him calling Kelly a pedophile.
“I should have worded it better,” He told USA TODAY. “I would leave my daughter with Kelly because I do not believe he is a pedophile.”
Johnson also said in the interview that he “would assume at this point” that R. Kelly is on suicide watch and apparently feels “scared” and “isolated”.
Mr Johnson is not the first associate to severe ties with the R&B singer, with his lawyer, publicist and assistant all resigning last year after the allegations initially broke.
Futher allegations against Kelly have surfaced since the airing of the Surviving R Kelly docuseries earlier this year. However, R. Kelly (who illegally married Aaliyah when she was 15) has repeatedly and vehemently denied any allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse.
The 52-year-old musician has been indicted on a total of 18 counts including kidnapping and sexual exploitation of a minor. He is set to appear in a New York court on August 2 and a federal court on September 4 in Chicago for a status hearing.
If convicted of the charges, he could face a maximum of 195 years in prison.
