R. Kelly’s daughter, Buku Abi, has made shocking allegations against her father, claiming that he sexually abused her as a child. The allegations, made public in a recent interview, have sent shockwaves throughout the music industry and beyond.
More than five years after speaking out in support of R. Kelly’s survivors, the singer’s daughter Buku Abi has claimed that she, too, was sexually abused by her father.
Abi, Kelly’s daughter with ex-wife Andrea “Drea” Kelly, spoke about her alleged sexual abuse in an episode of the “Karma: A Daughter’s Journey” series, which premiered Friday on TVEI Streaming Network.
The Grammy Award-winning R&B singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was convicted in 2022 on counts of producing child sexual abuse images and three counts of enticing minors for sex.
Federal prosecutors claim that there was video footage showing Kelly abusing a girl. The accuser, Jane, testified that she was 14 when the video was taken.
The 57-year-old R&B star was sentenced to 20 years in prison on child pornography charges in a Chicago federal court in 2023. However, 19 of those years will be served concurrently with a previous 30-year sentence.
A Chicago jury convicted the singer on three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor into criminal sexual activity.
The Chicago trial was based on allegations from five minors who claim R Kelly abused them in the 1990s, and one victim testified under a pseudonym that Kelly began engaging in sex acts with her when she was 14.
Now, his daughter, Buku Abi, has joined the list of his accusers.
Abi claims her father abused her when she was eight or nine years old.
Buku Abi, whose real name is Joann Kelly, opened up about the alleged abuse, “He was my everything. For a long time, I didn’t even want to believe that it happened. I didn’t know that even if he was a bad person, he would do something to me.”
Abi added that she “was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom.”
She continued, “I really feel like that one millisecond completely just changed my whole life, changed who I was as a person, and changed the sparkle I had and the light I used to carry.”
Abi revealed that “after I told my mom, I didn’t go over there anymore; my brother (Robert) and sister (Jaah), we didn’t go over there anymore.”
Buku Abi’s allegations add another layer of complexity to the already complicated case against R. Kelly.
In a statement to People magazine, Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, responded to Abi’s allegations: “Mr. Kelly vehemently denies these allegations. His ex-wife made the same allegation years ago, and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services and was unfounded…. And the ‘filmmakers,’ whoever they are, did not reach out to Mr. Kelly or his team to even allow him to deny these hurtful claims.”
