As his federal trial continues, more accusations continue to be levied at R.Kelly. Allegedly, the singer made his girlfriends fight each other as a form of punishment, according to the New York Daily News.
Suzette Mayweather, who began working as an assistant for Kelly in 2015, testified on the stand that the women involved with the singer fought to prove their devotion to him and even “twerked for cake.”
“He had to have them get on each other. I think they were fighting,” Mayweather said.
While she didn’t see the altercation, she claims she heard a commotion coming from upstairs at his Chocolate Factory studio, per her testimony
Mayweather said one of Kelly’s girlfriends once came to her in tears, showing bruises on her backside where Kelly “spanked” her. She also added that Kelly was a tyrant as an employer and routinely docked employees’ pay fines.
Recalling one bizarre incident, Mayweather said she received a call from Kelly around 2:00 a.m. and he demanded that she bring him some sweet potato pie. Seeking to appease her boss, Mayweather caught an Uber and headed to the nearest Walmart.
“I purchased all of the Patti LaBelle’s Sweet Potato Pie,” she said.
When she delivered the desserts to Kelly, she said to him, “You thought I was going to fail your test.” After gaining Kelly’s approval, his mood quickly changed when Mayweather broke one of his cardinal rules by speaking to one of his girlfriends about their relationship.
“He did become angry,” she remembered. “This particular incident was the first time ever — I’m sorry — it was the first time that I’d ever seen Rob really upset. ... It wasn’t the tone, it was the look in his eyes.”
Mayweather said she tried to explain that Dominique, one of Kelly’s girlfriends, began the conversation but she became afraid of his reaction and took the blame “because I feared for her in terms of what the repercussions would be,” the New York Times reported.
Deveraux L. Cannick, one of the singer’s lawyers, questioned Mayweather about her interpretation of Kelly’s demeanor.
“Do you know if he’d been sleeping?” Cannick asked. “Do you know what he was doing prior to his conversation with you?”
Mayweather also stated that there were at least two instances when she overheard or later learned of the singer’s physical abuse against the women he was with, but she never saw him hit any of them.
One common thread that connects Mayweather’s testimony with the other witnesses is Kelly’s strict rules such as making his girlfriends refer to him as “Daddy.”
Regarding Kelly’s peculiar behavior, Mayweather testified that women were not allowed to look at or speak to other men and said that the singer was in complete control of every aspect of their daily lives.
“When they walked in the elevator, once the door closed,” she said, “they faced the wall” and “never turned around.”
When asked how many of Mr. Kelly’s female guests regularly did this, she answered: “It was all of them.”
Kelly is charged with the sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, kidnapping, forced labor, and sexual trafficking across state lines and faces up to 20 years in prison.
Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
