“If you still listen and stream (R. Kelly’s) songs, you’re still supporting him and he’s still getting money out of that, and he needs to go to prison and not get anything. People always say he’s a terrible person but his music is good. If you listen to some of R. Kelly’s songs, he’s literally telling you what he did that’s wrong, and you’re trying to separate it? He’s confessing in his songs.”
- Karmyn Varner, 19, sophomore, nursing major
“None of these girls came out and said they want to press charges. They went to Lifetime who’s owned by A&E, which is ran by a registered child sex offender and lot of people don’t know that. You didn’t go to tell your story to seek justice; you told your story for views and for fame around it.”
- Faith Durden, 20, sophomore, business marketing major
“I used to be a huge R. Kelly fan, but when it comes to these allegations, it’s inhumane. Regardless, he has great music, but the allegations speak for themselves. There’s no way you can go around that. I don’t see how anyone can even listen to him and look at him and remotely say that he’s a good human being.”
- Hunter Tockey, 21, junior, exercise sports science major
“I think you can separate the art from the artist, but I don’t think you should if it comes down to harming other people. Those women are forever changed, and I think he should be muted.”
- Nadia Foster, 20, sophomore, double major psychology and social work with Spanish minor
“Even if some of the songs can be related to what was going on in his personal life, some people can see it as a different way. Most of those songs are sex songs, baby-making songs, and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do but my whole thing is we have to separate it. We can’t hurt his music he’s made, and the art that he’s put on this earth because of what he does in his personal life.”
- Jeremiah Hampton, 19, sophomore, criminal justice major.
“I feel like you can separate the artist from the art because in the entertainment industry, you’re a different person when you’re at home. Just like when you’re at work, you’re not the same person when you’re at work, and you don’t bring your personal life with you to your job. And that’s his job, so what he did when he was at home is just strictly his personal thing, which wasn’t okay. But as an artist or influential person, it’s just different.”
- Charity Holmes, 22, senior, history major
“You can’t separate it at all because at the end of the day, it’s just a fact. It doesn’t matter how majestic, creative or inspiring or touching someone’s art can be because at the end of the day, a bigot is a bigot. And if a person is of bad faith, bad spirituality and of bad morals, then they’re just a bad person.”
- Chad Baker, 21, junior, Spanish major
