Free Press Houston and concert promoter Pegstar are deciding what to do about the inclusion of R&B performer R. Kelly at the 2015 Free Press Summer Festival after a local protest began to draw national attention. Kelly was announced last week as one of the event’s headliners.
Both the popular independent music reporting website Stereogum and veteran music writer Jim DeRogatis — who wrote about accusations about Kelly for the Chicago Sun-Times — have reported on the protest.
The campaign to have Kelly (born Robert Kelly) removed started with the organization Girls Rock Camp Houston, a self-described “DIY, punk, feminist empowerment camp,” which addressed organizers of the event in a letter that read, in part:
“This past week you released the lineup for the Free Press Summer Fest 2015, which includes R. Kelly as a headlining act. A pedophile. Indicted on 21 counts of child pornography. Has filmed video footage of himself engaging in sexual acts with underage girls. Teenage girls he would prey on outside of their gospel choir class at Kenwood Academy in Chicago. Leaving long lasting emotional and psychological trauma, for some resulting in attempted suicide. After dozens of lawsuits, the girls feeling like they could get no justice, settled. The girls of Chicago are the girls of Houston and they MATTER. They deserve the right to live without fear, violence, intimidation and predatory sexual behavior. R. Kelly should not be able to continue to profit from performances that glorify his persona of sexual predator.”
See here for the background. There’s nothing new in the Chron story, and as far as I can tell there’s no news yet on how that Monday meeting with Girls Rock Camp Houston and Pegstar went. In the meantime, the Cancel R Kelly At FPSF 2015 Facebook page, which posted a FAQ about what they’re doing, continues to be the best source of information on this. At some point, the lack of news on the dialog with Pegstar will point to their answer being “no”. We’ll see how long this plays out. Nonsequiteuse and the Washington Post have more.