R. Kelly and the Politics of Truth

This essay was originally published in The Mantle on October 22, 2019.

As R. Kelly sits in a federal jail in Cook County awaiting trial on an almost endless flurry of sex crime charges, the 52-year-old singer must be wondering to himself in his orange jumpsuit where it all went wrong. Why, after 30 years of him remaining almost untouchable, do the people no longer believe him? For a time, he seemed to be a famous individual who had merely been accused of rape, sexual assault, and pedophilia–but, at least he was innocent until proven guilty. Now, his reputation seems to be as a famous rapist and pedophile who just so happens to be a popular artist. What happened?

It is here in this perspectival distinction–between the accused famous person & the famous abuser–that we want to answer the question for R. Kelly by focusing on regimes of truth. We’re not concerned about the individual truths or facts that can be discovered or excavated and therefore definitively determine whether R. Kelly, for example, is a rapist and pedophile. When talking about the regimes of truth, we’re talking about the political relations surrounding truth, relations that regulate or allow statements of fact to be imbued with a truth-content that itself reinforces the rule or norm responsible for regulations in the first place. By first examining regimes of truth we can then understand why it is that R. Kelly was able to remain successful despite decades of allegations of abuse, sexual assault, and pedophilia swirling about; and, perhaps more importantly, why the stories of his survivor’s are beginning to gain traction in society dismantling the tower of success that R. Kelly dwells in. (read more)

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