"A whole tour with him and is close friends with him"— Netizens trend R. Kelly as singer's association with Jay-Z comes under scrutiny

Amid Jay-Z's latest lawsuit, his former collaborator, singer-songwriter, and convicted s*x offender R. Kelly is trending online. In fact, their association has come under scrutiny.

Disclaimer: This article mentions s*xual assault, which may upset the readers. Discretion is advised.

For instance, X user @price0fwoke shared a post on the platform and said:

“Jay-Z has TWO albums with R. Kelly and a whole tour with him and is close friends with him, Diddy, and Harvey Weinstein, but there’s suddenly no way he could be a predator?? Because he’s married to Beyoncé?? Lmao please be so for real.”

Many people joined the conversation and shared similar reactions on X with R. Kelly now trending online.

“Are y’all really surprised that a man who started dating an 18-year-old girl at the age of 30 & made 2 projects with R. Kelly (who is a p*do & was known to have underaged girls in the studio with him) has a weird case? I’m not saying he’s guilty of this, just why are y’all shocked,” a person wrote.

“Are we really surprised about Jay -Z though? He was close with both R. Kelly and Diddy…” one person asked.

“Jay-Z was close friends with R. Kelly, Diddy, and Harvey Weinstein now there’s suddenly no way he could be a predator??? LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOO,” wrote another.

Others continued to weigh in, with one saying that Jay had a "history of questionable associations."

“Exactly. Being married to Beyoncé doesn’t erase a history of questionable associations with people like R. Kelly, Diddy, and Weinstein. The company you keep says a lot, and these connections shouldn’t be ignored when serious allegations come up. Accountability matters,” a netizen wrote.

“Mind you this Jay-Z and R. Kelly song Called ‘Not Guilty’ but we seen how it turned out for R. Kelly,” another netizen wrote.

“Jay-Z was literally besties with R. Kelly… That man has BEEN SICK!!!!!!!!!!” a user wrote.

“People really thought Jay-Z who was associated with R Kelly and Diddy was some chill guy?” another user wrote.

Notably, R. Kelly continues to remain behind bars with a 31-year combined sentence on charges of child p*rnography, federal racketeering, and s*x trafficking involving abuse of minors, among other charges.

Meanwhile, Jay-Z has been named in a civil lawsuit originally filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs in October 2024. The suit, which was refiled on December 8 in a New York City federal court, has accused the Roc Nation founder of r*ping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 at an MTV VMAs afterparty alongside Diddy while a female celebrity seemingly witnessed the alleged assault.

Jay-Z has dismissed the lawsuit and has described it as a means to “blackmail” him amid his refusal to “settle” it outside court. He has also threatened to “expose” the plaintiff’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee, as a “fraud” in a “public fashion” for trying to damage his name and reputation.

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Exploring Jay-Z and R. Kelly’s association over the years

In early 2000, Jay-Z and R. Kelly were popular names in the music industry. They soon collaborated professionally for the first time after the former joined the latter in the remix version of Kelly’s hit single, Fiesta.

Following this, in 2002, the duo released the LP The Best of Both Worlds. It was a commercial blockbuster that debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart and even went platinum. However, around this time, an alleged s*x tape featuring Kelly and an underaged girl leaked, leading to his indictment. As a result, his scheduled tour with Jay-Z was delayed to 2004.

Between this time, the pair dropped a follow-up album titled Unfinished Business, which attained similar success. However, R. Kelly’s legal issues reportedly strained his professional relationship with the Roc-A-Fella co-founder.

Later, things worsened when R. Kelly abruptly left the stage during their joint performance at the Madison Square Garden in New York City in October 2004. The R&B singer claimed a member of the crowd was waving a firearm at him.

The claim was never authenticated. However, a member of Jay-Z’s crew reportedly pepper-sprayed Kelly to calm him down. Additionally, R. Kelly was reportedly removed from the rest of the tour and replaced by other industry insiders, including Diddy and Mariah Carey. Later, Jay and Kelly sued each other for millions of dollars, which was settled outside court.

After the documentary Surviving R. Kelly released in 2019, re-examining the past s*xual misconduct accusations against the R&B star, Jay-Z’s past association with him continued to be scrutinized. It was also reported that HOV refused to appear in the documentary.

Notably, Jay’s former business partner and Roc-A-Fella co-founder Damon Dash told Hip Hop Motivation in December 2020 that watching the docu-series made him recall how his late partner Aaliyah wanted to share her experience with Kelly but couldn’t. He also claimed that Jay’s collaboration with Kelly destroyed their business partnership.

In October 2024, Dash doubled down on his previous claims and told American Nu Network that it was “morally wrong” for Jay-Z to have collaborated with R. Kelly on any project after the allegations surfaced against him. He also insisted on having “no involvement” in Kelly and Jay’s partnership.

For the unversed, Dash’s late partner, Aaliyah, was married to R. Kelly when she was underage and was reportedly abused by him.

Rapper Nas also told Wendy Williams during a January 2019 interview that he didn’t believe Jay had no clue about R. Kelly’s problematic behavior during their professional association.