Next you'll be saying Jimmy Saville was a paedo
Er....
The history of allegations against R Kelly
1994: Marries Aaliyah
The star, then aged 27, marries 15-year-old singer Aaliyah at a secret ceremony in Chicago. Vibe magazine later discovered that Aaliyah had lied on the wedding certificate about her age, listing herself as 18. The marriage was annulled in February 1995.
1996: Sued for emotional distress
Tiffany Hawkins sues R Kelly for the "personal injuries and emotional distress" she suffered during a three-year relationship with the star.
In court documents, she said she began having sex with Kelly in 1991, when she was 15 and he was 24, and the relationship ended three years later, when she turned 18. According to the Chicago Sun Times, Hawkins sought $10 million in damages, but accepted a fraction of that amount ($250,000) when the case was settled in 1998.
Kelly's spokeswoman said she had "no knowledge" of the accusations.
2001: Sued by intern
Tracy Sampson sues R Kelly, accusing him of inducing her "into an indecent sexual relationship" when she was 17 years old.
The woman, a former intern at Epic Records, claimed she was "treated as his personal sex object and cast aside".
"He often tried to control every aspect of my life including who I would see and where I would go," she said in her legal case against him. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, said the New York Post.
April and May 2002: Two more court cases
Kelly is sued for a third time by Patrice Jones, a Chicago woman who claims he impregnated her when she was underage, and that she was forced to have an abortion.
A woman named Montina Woods also sued Kelly, alleging that he videotaped them having sex without her knowledge. The recording was allegedly circulated on an R Kelly "sex tape" sold by bootleggers under the title R Kelly Triple-X.
The star settled both cases out of court, paying an undisclosed sum in return for a non-disclosure agreement.
June 2002: Charged over child pornography
The star is charged with 21 counts of making child pornography, involving intercourse, oral sex, urination, and other sexual acts.
Chicago police accused him of videotaping each of these acts and enticing a minor to participate in them. All of the charges related to one girl, born in September 1984.
His arrest stemmed from a video which was sent anonymously to the Chicago Sun Times earlier in the year. They passed it on to police, who verified the authenticity of the tape with help from FBI forensics experts.
Kelly, who posted $750,000 bail, immediately denied the charges in an interview with MTV and later pleaded not guilty in court.
It took six years for the case to come to trial, during which time Kelly released his wildly successful Trapped In The Closet album; and was nominated for an Image Award by the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), prompting widespread criticism.
The jury eventually concluded they could not prove that the girl on the tape was a minor, and Kelly was found not guilty on all counts.
2002 - 2004: Arrest prompts further charges
Kelly is charged with a further 12 counts of making child pornography in Florida, where he was arrested at his holiday home.
These charges came after police seized a camera during the arrest, which allegedly showed the star having sex with an underage girl.
The charges were dropped when a judge agreed with Kelly's defence team that police lacked sufficient evidence to justify a search.
July 2017: Allegations of a "cult"
Last summer, Buzzfeed published a long and detailed report accusing R Kelly of trapping six women in a sex "cult".
The article alleged that Kelly seduced young women when they approached him for help with their music careers, before taking control of their lives - dictating "what they eat, how they dress, when they bathe, when they sleep, and how they engage in sexual encounters that he records".
The report claimed the star also confiscated the women's cell phones, the report said, barring contact with friends and family.
The allegations came from three former employees and the parents of several women, who said their daughters had all but vanished.
Kelly strenuously denied the story - which was written by Jim DeRogatis, who has covered the allegations against R Kelly for two decades, principally for the Chicago Sun Times.
All of the women cited in the article were of legal age; and one later denied the claims that she was being held against her will.
"I'm not being brainwashed or anything like that," said 21-year-old Joycelyn Savage in a video call to TMZ. However, she would not reveal where she was speaking from, nor the nature of her relationship with Kelly.
R Kelly's lawyer, Linda Mensch, also issued a strongly-worded denial, saying the star was "alarmed and disturbed at the recent revelations" and would "work diligently and forcibly to pursue his accusers and clear his name".
2017 - 2018: Victims approach the press
Buzzfeed's report prompted further allegations against the star.
Jerhonda Pace broke a non-disclosure agreement to speak about having sex with Kelly while she was underage. Another woman, Kitti Jones, claimed the star had starved her, coerced her into sexual encounters with other women and physically abused her.
Kitti, along with other members of R Kelly's inner circle, spoke to a BBC Three documentary in March 2018. One former friend and collaborator, Lovell Jones, said that Kelly asked him to scout out women "that looked young" at parties, and claimed that it was "common knowledge" that the singer preferred young girls.
Again, Kelly denied the allegations.
2018: #MuteRKelly, staff departures and new court case
The #MuteRKelly campaign began lobbying Kelly's record label RCA to sever ties with the singer. They also targeted concert promoters, tickets sellers and streaming services - with Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora all agreeing to demote Kelly's songs from their playlists.
Around the same time, the star's lawyer, publicist and personal assistant all quit - although the attorney, Linda Mensch, said her departure "was unrelated to any allegations related to Mr. Kelly's social life."
Kelly continued to perform live despite protests outside his shows; and was filmed saying the campaign against him was "too late".
Meanwhile, the star was sued by a former partner who said he "intentionally" infected her with a sexually transmitted disease.
A representative for Kelly said he "categorically denies all claims and allegations".