John Legend is setting the record straight on previously working with disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
John Legend is setting the record straight on previously working with disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
The 40-year-old singer recently appeared in the Lifetime docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, which featured interviews with several women who claim they were subjects of abuse and predatory behavior from Kelly, while other interviewees claimed to have witnessed inappropriate behavior between him and his then-underaged protege, the late Aaliyah.
Kelly has long denied all allegations against him.
While Legend acknowledged Kelly's talent in the docuseries, he ultimately denounced him, saying, “R. Kelly has brought so much pain to so many people. Time’s up for R. Kelly."
However, some later called Legend a hypocrite because he previously worked with Weinstein, who was indicted on felony charges of sexual misconduct last May and could face life in prison. Legend responded on Monday to a fan on Twitter who shared a picture of Weinstein posing with both Legend and the singer's wife, Chrissy Teigen, at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016.
"I took a photo with and worked with Harvey on several occasions before his abuse was known to me and the rest of the world," Legend tweeted back. "Since his being exposed, his company and career have rightfully been destroyed and he's been indicted. Sounds like something that should happen to R Kelly."
Previously, Legend tweeted about taking a stand against Kelly in the docuseries.
"To everyone telling me how courageous I am for appearing in the doc, it didn't feel risky at all," he wrote. "I believe these women and don't give a f**k about protecting a serial child rapist. Easy decision."
Teigen later tweeted that she was proud of her husband for speaking up.
"Proud of John but so in awe of the strength and courage of the women involved, who survived and told their stories," she wrote. "I wish I could be as eloquent as John but - f**k R Kelly. #MuteRKelly."
Meanwhile, Kelly's ex-wife, Andrea Kelly -- who accused him of abuse in the docuseries -- also spoke out on Monday, hitting back against those she says are now trying to "expose" her as retaliation.
"I celebrate the women I am TODAY!" she wrote in part on Instagram. "Though some want [to] 'expose' the pain filled, scared, abused women I was.....STOP! I AM No longer afraid."
ET recently spoke to Stephanie Edwards -- better known by her stage name Sparkle -- who testified in court against Kelly in 2008, when he was facing 14 counts of child pornography. Kelly has staunchly denied all allegations of sexual misconduct that have been leveled against him and was acquitted in that case on all counts. Edwards compared Kelly to Weinstein as well as Bill Cosby, who was found guilty last April of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in Pennsylvania in 2004.
"He's right there in there with them, all of them. They're piled in there together. There's no difference," Edwards claimed. "Harvey Weinstein. [Kelly], even Bill Cosby… he's been doing it for way too long."
"I went at it alone," Edwards also said of testifying against Kelly. "I'm happy to see the #MeToo movement and Time's Up movement are backing these women. I wish they were backing [me] when I was coming up and had a story to tell, but nobody believed. But now people are seeing."
ET Live recently spoke to high-profile attorney Gloria Allred, who talked about what legal action may follow Surviving R. Kelly.
"We don't know whether there would ever be, in a prosecutor's opinion, any sufficient evidence to file any other criminal case against Mr. Kelly, or even if they thought there was sufficient evidence, whether it would be within the time period -- something called the statute of limitations," Allred said. "Secondly, as to a civil lawsuit, there are different time periods for filing a civil lawsuit, so it may be that civil lawsuits may follow."
"We don't know right now whether the people that allege they were victims in the Lifetime series are in the time period set by law to file a civil lawsuit, and we'll have to wait and see that, but if Kelly sues these women who allege that they were victims, they will have an opportunity to respond in the court of law," she added.
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