Getty Faith Rodgers
Faith Rodgers is one of the accusers who appears on Surviving R. Kelly Part 2. She claims that the R&B singer assaulted her when she was a teenager, and threatened to leak compromising photos if she did not keep quiet. “He needs to go to jail forever,” she told People Magazine. “There needs to be no getting out, no anything.”
Read on to learn more about Rodgers’ time with R. Kelly, including the alleged assault and the nude photos that the singer threatened to release if she spoke out.
Rodgers Claims That R. Kelly Assaulted Her When She Was 19
Rodgers met Kelly when she was 19. The pair connected after one of Kelly’s concerts in Texas, and they talked for several months via telephone. The Daily Beast reports that Rodgers was flown out to attend one of Kelly’s NYC concerts, and it was during this trip that she claims to have been sexually assaulted.
“He turns on all the lights… And he’s like, ‘Take off your clothes.’ And he says it, you know, with authority in his voice,” Rodgers told CBS News. “Not just, you know, he’s demanding me to do this. And I didn’t take off my clothes because why would I? I just wasn’t ready….Sex isn’t something, you know, I’m ready for…”
Rodgers Was Threatened with Nude Photos After Her Appearance on ‘Surviving R. Kelly’
Rodgers recounted her experiences during the first chapter of Surviving R. Kelly, but her willingness to speak out led to her receiving a threatening letter from the R&B singer. She claims that Kelly sent a notarized letter to her lawyer, and that the letter contained compromising photos that were taken without her expressed consent.
The note attached read: “If she persists in court action she will be subjected to public opinion. If Ms. Rodgers really cares about her own reputation she should cease her participation and association with the organizers of this negative campaign.” It also said that Kelly would call upon “10 personal male witnesses to [testify] about her sex life.”
Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, said that the letter “looked fake” and denied its authenticity. “It obviously was not authored or signed by Mr. Kelly, nor sent on his behalf,” Greenberg told the Independent. “He doesn’t write letters.”
Kelly’s Lawyer Denies That the Singer Sent the Incriminating Letter
Despite this explicit denial, Rodgers and her attorney, Gloria Allred, moved forward with a lawsuit. “We are here to let Mr. Kelly know in no uncertain terms that he cannot and will not intimidate his alleged victims into keeping silent about their allegations,” Allred said during a press conference.
Rodgers also spoke during the conference, and she assured her supporters that she will not buckle under the weight of blackmail. “No woman should be victim-shamed, harassed or retaliated against because she asserted her rights and spoke her truth,” she announced.
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