Woman at Center of R. Kelly Story Asks Father to Stop
CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 7/20/2017, 1:33 p.m.
By Lisa Respers France
CNN
(CNN) -- Joycelyn Savage says she has a message for her father regarding his concerns about her being with R. Kelly: please stop.
Savage, 21, appeared in a video posted on TMZ Wednesday in which she said she wanted to direct a message to her family and especially to her father, Timothy Savage.
"Dad you know everything that's gone on with the media and the internet with what you have done is a complete disaster and you need to stop," she said. "Because right now I am fed up with everything you are doing. You are embarrassing me and the whole entire family."
An aspiring singer, Savage is at the center of a controversy involving singer R. Kelly, whose real name is Robert Kelly.
Kelly is being accused of having sexual relationships with Savage and several other women in an arrangement in which he controls them and manipulates them into actions including cutting off contact with the outside world, including their families.
The accusation came as part of of an explosive BuzzFeed article published Monday. In that article, Savage's parents -- then identified only as J. and Tim -- shared their concerns about their daughter's relationship with Kelly, who is 50.
Savage's parents, whose full first names are Timothy and Jonjelyn, went public with their identities Monday at a press conference they held in Atlanta. They were joined at the press conference by Asante McGee, who was named in the BuzzFeed article as being a former member of Kelly's inner circle.
At that press conference the couple said they had reached out to their daughter, but had not seen her since December.
It was also in December that Timothy Savage began posting to YouTube a series of videos, which have not been widely publicized before now, in which he called out Kelly regarding his alleged relationship with Joycelyn.
In one of the videos, the Savage patriarch appears to threaten Kelly, holding a baseball bat and saying, "You know what time it is... I ain't playing no m*f games with you, boy. I gave you 120 hours to get back in touch with me."
In a later video, posted in January, he ventures to a local McDonalds to solicit opinions about his daughter's alleged relationship; in another, he alleges that she has "Stockholm Syndrome."
"R. Kelly I'm willing to meet you anywhere, any time," Savage said in a YouTube video titled "R. Kelly messing around with my daughter : Joycelyn Savage Pt 2." "Where it's radio station, where it's a TV station, any one of those places, to discuss this problem."
The BuzzFeed story also talked about five other women, whose ages were given as 31, 26, 25, 19 and 18. The article said that these women "live with Kelly," and that he calls them his "babies." The article also alleged that the women "are required to call him 'Daddy' and must ask his permission to leave the Chicago recording studio or their assigned rooms in the 'guest house' Kelly rents near his own rented mansion in suburban Atlanta."
Kelly has denied any wrongdoing.
"Mr. Robert Kelly is both alarmed and disturbed at the recent revelations attributed to him," Kelly's attorney Linda Mensch said in a statement provided to CNN on Monday. "Mr. Kelly unequivocally denies such allegations and will work diligently and forcibly to pursue his accusers and clear his name."
Savage appeared in a video posted on TMZ Monday in which she denied that there was anything wrong.
"I'm not being brainwashed or anything like that," Savage said in the video. "It's just came to a point where it definitely has got out of hand, so, you know, I just want everybody to know -- my parents and everybody in the world -- that I'm totally fine. I'm happy where I'm at and everything is OK with me."
The following day her father told CNN he believed his daughter had been "coached" on what to say.
"You can see it," Mr. Savage said. "It looks like one of those hostage videos."
In her most recent video Savage reiterated that she is doing well.
"I am happy where I'm at and the people that I'm around and it's getting out of hand, seriously," she said.
Savage added that she would love for her father to stop what he is doing because "I can't believe you even went this far."
"I love you to death but I need you to understand me," Savage said. "Please stop what you're doing. Please."
CNN has contacted Timothy Savage for comment regarding his daughter's latest video and his YouTube videos but had not heard back as of the time of publication.