Wendy Williams Sponsors Threaten To Pull Out Over Her Supporting R.Kelly

Wendy Williams Backtracks Her Support For R. Kelly After Sponsors Threaten To Pull Out Of Her Show

Money talks and sponsors are threatening to walk if Wendy Williams doesn’t stop forcing R. Kelly on viewers, according to reports. 

Over the last few months, R. Kelly has been accused of sexual assault, giving a woman an STD, running a sex cult and other forms of misconduct. Female members of his team quit, radio and concert promoters boycott him and the #MuteRKelly movement was born.

In January, Wendy came under fire when she talked about the #MeToo movement, calling it unfair during one of her Hot Topics segments. She also brought up R.Kelly’s marriage to Aaliyah.

R. Kelly wasn’t a ‘me too.’ Aaliyah voluntarily married him when she was 15 years old. Her parents voluntarily let her do it.

Then in May, Wendy revealed to her audience that she sat down with R. Kelly for an in-depth conversation at his home studio. She says he answered every question she had. She said that she promised not to spill the beans regarding the detail of the conversation, but offered him the opportunity to come on to her show if the audience obliged. Wendy took a poll and over half of her audience said they wanted to hear what R. Kelly had to say.

The following week, Wendy revisited the issue again, this time some felt that she placed blame on parents of R. Kelly’s alleged victims for allowing their young daughters to be around R. Kelly in the name of stardom.

I know things about R. Kelly that I will take to my grave unless he tells them and I sit there and listen the way I did in the studio that night. But I will tell you this as a cautionary tale, parents, you need to watch who you let loose your girls around. These girls these days — a 15 year old girl for damn sure looks 20. They carry themselves like they’re 22. They’re no longer just 15 and if you’re so desperate that you want your kids to be stars and you’re going to unleash your daughters to the world, you better watch what you get. This is not these girls just running away. There are parents who will gladly push their 15-year-old, lipgloss popping, booty popping and all that stuff, to the arms of an older man.

Allegedly, sponsors aren’t happy. In late May, a source says network executives called a meeting and told Wendy to dial back her support of R. Kelly.

They were straight up. If you lose advertisers over this, it’s going to be a problem. So it’s time to take a different approach to R. Kelly before your talk show is gone and you’re having to go on the road and open up for him.

The insider continues:

It’s already been a tough season for Wendy. The revelations of her husband’s affair caused major drama at the show. Her illness cost the show to lose money during her three weeks off, which is why Jerry O’Connell had to come in and guest host one week.  Now, her supporting R. Kelly despite his history of questionable sexual misconduct in this day of reckoning for women is misguided and dangerous to the business of her show.

It seems Wendy may have taken their advice. On her May 22 show, Wendy sang a completely different tune.

At this point, what do you say? R. Kelly is apparently guilty of a lot of things. The law just has to catch up to the accusations. You know what I mean? I think more girls will probably come out and tell their stories… I think there will be more.

By: Eleven8