Sony Music has decided to dissolve its working relationship with R. Kelly, Variety has learned.
No external announcement of the move is planned in the immediate future, says a source, who added that Kelly’s presence on the RCA website (where he remains listed) will not indicate his departure from the company, as his back catalog will remain with RCA/Sony. Kelly’s last release with the label was a Christmas-themed album in 2016, although he has released several songs independently since that time, presumably with Sony’s consent, and Tweeted earlier this year that he has a new album on the way.
Contacted by Variety, reps for both RCA Records and its parent company, Sony Music, declined comment.
The move comes after years of public calls, and even a petition from members of the #MuteRKelly movement, for the company to part ways with Kelly.
Those calls intensified in the wake of Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly,” in which multiple women accuse him of sexual misconduct. In recent weeks a plane commissioned by the women’s organization UltraViolet and carrying a sign reading “RCA/Sony: Drop Sexual Predator R. Kelly” flew over Sony Music’s Los Angeles offices and a protest was staged outside of Sony’s New York headquarters.
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