TLC’s Chilli Says She ‘Canceled’ R. Kelly Years Ago

TLC’s Chilli says she hasn’t acknowledged R. Kelly for years because he married a teenager in the ’90s. Kelly married 15-year-old Aaliyah when he was 27. Chilli says that, among other things, was a warning to her.

“It didn’t take me to see a documentary to know the truth,” Chilli told TMZ. “[Kelly] was canceled years ago in my book, after marrying a 15-year-old child. And then on top of that, I saw the tape at the studio with a whole bunch of other people, and I was just like, ‘He’s going to jail.’ I saw it, I was like, ‘He’s going to jail.’ And then when I heard he was denied I was like ‘What!’ How can you deny that? That’s just like me saying, ‘Oh that’s not me on that swing in the ‘No Scrubs’ video—it’s not me.’ I mean come on.

“When you’re young, that frontal lobe hasn’t closed up yet so your reasoning and all that kind of stuff is not there, it’s not developed. But the person that’s older than you should know better. She was a kid—I don’t care how they acting or whatever. Even the people are like, ‘Oh it’s the parents, it’s the parents.’ Them as well, it’s not just one person, but it’s definitely the monsters for sure.”

Lifetime’s docu-series Surviving R. Kelly debuted in early January. The six-part show, which aired over three days, documents decades of alleged abusive behavior by the singer through dozens of interviews with survivors, siblings, associates, experts, and critics.