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R Kelly: Two more women accuse singer of sexual misconduct while they were underage

One of the women alleges Kelly assaulted her when she was 16

Clémence Michallon
New York
Thursday 21 February 2019 18:56 EST
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Two more women have accused R Kelly of sexual misconduct dating back to when they were underage – the latest in a series of allegations against the singer.

The two women came forward during a press conference on Thursday with attorney Gloria Allred.

They allege that the misconduct happened after attending an R Kelly and LL Cool J concert in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1995.

One of the women said she was 16 years old and living in Baltimore when she and her 15-year-old friend – the other alleged victim present at the press conference – attended the concert and an after-party at a nightclub, for which they had also purchased a ticket.

At the nightclub, the woman alleges, Kelly pointed to the two girls and asked his staff to put them on a stage. The woman claims they were offered drugs and alcohol at the after-party.

She says Kelly asked the girls to meet him in his hotel suite and that Kelly came into the room wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, with his penis “out and over [the] top of his pants”.

According to the woman, Kelly asked both girls to dance and ultimately ended up lying down on the bed with them, putting his arm around them and telling them they could be in his next video.

Then, the woman says Kelly started touching her breast and her genitals, put his hands under her dress and asked both girls to engage in a threesome, at which point the woman’s friend said no and left for the bathroom.

The woman alleges that Kelly asked her to perform oral sex on him, which she did, then had sexual intercourse with her.

She says she was under the influence of marijuana and alcohol, both of which were allegedly offered to her during the after-party, and that she “did not have the capacity to consent”.

The age of consent in Maryland is 16.

The woman says she and her friend never saw the singer again.

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Kelly has faced accusations of sexual misconduct for two decades and has never been convicted.

His lawyer Steve Greenberg has denied all accusations against the singer, saying Kelly never knowingly had sex with an underage woman.

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