Kelly, whose real name is Robert Kelly, was seen screaming, cursing and pleading to the camera in the sit-down with Gayle King, a host of “CBS This Morning,” parts of which aired Wednesday. At one point, Kelly grew so emotional that King stopped the interview so he could regain his composure.
“Hate me if you want to, love me if you want,” Kelly said. “But just use your common sense. How stupid would it be for me, with my crazy past and what I’ve been through — oh, right now I just think I need to be a monster, hold girls against their will, chain them up in my basement, and don’t let them eat, don’t let them out!”
He continued, directly into the camera and growing tearful: “I didn’t do this stuff! This is not me!”
“I’m fighting for my life!” he said, using an expletive.
Kelly, 52, was charged last month in Chicago with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four women, three of whom were minors at the time. His arrest came after a Lifetime documentary, “Surviving R. Kelly,” brought new attention to accusations that he had mistreated women and revived prosecutors’ interest in his behavior.
“Everybody says something bad about me,” Kelly said, referring to the documentary. “Nobody said nothing good. They was describing Lucifer. I’m not Lucifer. I’m a man. I make mistakes, but I’m not a devil. And by no means am I a monster.”
He was released from jail last week after a woman describing herself as a friend of Kelly posted a $100,000 bond.
In the interview, Kelly told King that he agreed to speak because he was “tired of all of the lies.”
An interview King conducted with Azriel Clary, 21, and Joycelyn Savage, 23, two women who are living with Kelly and have come to court in support of him, will air Friday.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.