The parents of a former Georgia Gwinnett College student who they say is “being held against her will” in R. Kelly’s alleged sex cult have launched a hotline for the R&B singer’s abuse victims.
According to Mic.com, Timothy and Jonjelyn Savage, parents of 22-year-old Jocelyn Savage of Henry County, have been in contact with "at least 80 women or parents regarding allegations against Kelly," many of whom are afraid of speaking out due to Kelly's fame.
They launched the hotline on Tuesday and hope it will encourage victims to report allegations to authorities and seek care. Callers can leave a message detailing their accounts or they can offer tips. After reviewing and screening messages, the couple reaches out to the callers who may have potential leads that can be verified.
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“One reason I feel that he’s been getting away with a lot of the allegations for the last two decades is because people feel he has money and power and they don’t have the resources to fight him,” Jonjelyn Savage told Mic in a phone interview last week.
The Savages allege their daughter had been "brainwashed" by the singer and said last July that they hadn't seen his daughter since December, The AJC previously reported.
Reports of the allegations were first reported by BuzzFeed and claimed the singer held women between the ages 18-26 captive in his Chicago and Atlanta properties, dictating "what they eat, how they dress, when they bathe, when they sleep, and how they engage in sexual encounters that he records."
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Jocelyn Savage denied BuzzFeed's reports in an interview with TMZ last July, claiming she's never felt like a hostage "or anything like that in that nature." In the video, she said she's not in Georgia but dodged questions about who she was with or whether she was allowed to leave, The AJC previously reported.
During a more recent interview on "The View", Kelly's ex-wife Andrea Kelly said she recounted several incidents of alleged domestic abuse, including being attacked in the back of a Hummer.
In 2001, a woman named Tracy Sampson accused the singer of coercing her into sex when she was 17. That case, along with a 1998 abuse case, was settled out of court, according to the New York Times.
Several activists, including the Time's Up movement, have launched campaigns to address the sexual abuse claims against Kelly. The hashtag #MuteRKelly has also spread online in an effort to encourage companies to stop streaming his music.
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