Following the airing of parts one and two of the Lifetime docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, which investigates the sexual abuse allegations against famed singer, R. Kelly’s streaming numbers have gone up.
Following the series premiere on Thursday night (Jan. 3), Kelly’s songs saw a streaming increase of 16 percent on Spotify. The Blast confirmed as much with a Spotify rep earlier today Friday (Jan. 4.)
Odd news considering that Spotify tried removing Kells’ from the platform’s promoted playlists, in accordance with the company’s controversial hateful content policy. The move didn’t appear to have any affect on the streaming of Kelly’s music, and there was even an increase before Spotify eventually backtracked the move all together.
Surviving R. Kelly is a six-part docuseries that focuses on R. Kelly’s alleged victims and associates sharing intense and at times disturbing stories about their relationship with R. Kelly.
In a letter sent to the network, Kelly’s legal team warned that the six-part program is “packed with lies” and that a lawsuit would be filed immediately if the series aired, but Lifetime went ahead with the premiere as scheduled. Kelly’s team has yet to respond.
Based on the streaming number increase it appears that R. Kelly’s fans are still here for him.