An unearthed video has seen R. Kelly claiming it’s “too late” to mute him

R. Kelly has proudly boasted that his career is too big to be halted by the#MuteRKelly campaign, which aims to end his career as a result of the sexual assault allegations levied against him over the years.

Earlier this month, the #MuteRKelly campaign resurfaced, with Women of Color of Time’s Up – which “aims to organise around issues that are especially important to women and girls of colour” – calling for an end to the controversial entertainer’s career, and pointing out the highly inappropriate acts he has been accused of over the years.

Within days, numerous streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora all removed the artist’s work from their playlists (but not from their platforms entirely) in accordance with new policies that aim to stop promoting music which could be considered hateful or harmful.

“Pandora’s policy is to not actively promote artists with certain demonstrable behavioral, ethical or criminal issues,” explained a spokesperson for Pandora. “We approach each of these scenarios on a case–by–case basis to ensure we address components true to Pandora’s principles while not overreaching and avoiding censorship.”

Now, as Rolling Stone reports, a Facebook live video has surfaced showing R. Kelly speaking to a crowded room while he boasts that all attempts to curtail his career are “too late” and that he is “handcuffed by [his] destiny”.

“I’ve got a million motherfuckers hating me,” R. Kelly is seen saying in the clip. “And 40 billion motherfuckers loving me.”

So, remember that I told you about that random Antoine Walker FB Live video with R. Kelly last night? Well, here is partially slurring Kels proposing a toast declaring “it’s too late” to #MuteRKelly pic.twitter.com/a45z7EDis2

— Exavier Pope (@exavierpope) May 18, 2018

“I’ma tell you something, I’ma take this musical shit, and I’ma inject these motherfuckers,” he continues. “I’m handcuffed by my destiny. It’s too late. They shoulda did this shit 30 years ago. It’s too late. The music has been injected into the world.”

“To all the strong motherfuckers in here right now. Motherfuckers like you is why I still continue to do what I do, because I have a basketball mentality,” Kelly concluded. “As long as I’ve got the ball, the world is on defense.”

While R. Kelly and his management are yet to respond to this newly-surfaced video, a spokesman for the artist released a statement earlier this month when the #MuteRKelly movement surfaced again.

“R. Kelly supports the pro-women goals of the Time’s Up movement,” the statement read. “We understand criticising a famous artist is a good way to draw attention to those goals — and in this case, it is unjust and off-target.”

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.