Iyanla Vanzant asked R. Kelly for forgiveness in a recent interview, where she also said the elder Black community as a whole abandoned him.
When looking back at the decades-spanning sex crimes saga of R. Kelly that landed him in prison for 30 years, many from Gen Z and even younger Millennials have questioned how one of the greatest disappointments of Generation X could’ve gotten away with so much for so long.
Celebrated life coach Iyanla Vanzant has now spoke up to place blame on Baby Boomers like herself, even going so far as to ask the former R&B ruler for forgiveness.
RELATED: Iyanla Vanzant Says Fix My Life Resulted In Death Threats, Random Home Visits & Calls For Advice
“Forgive me as an elder in our community for not being available to support you,” she said while sitting for a recent interview with The Jason Lee Show (seen above), also adding, “forgive me for ignoring your pain, forgive me for abandoning you — forgive me.” When pressed to extend further on if she really stands by the abandonment claim, Iyanla clarified that the entire community had actually done it to him as well as Michael Jackson.
“People now will talk about they knew about whatever-whatever and let it go on [sic],” she told Jason Lee, particularly referring to the ones who facilitated situations for the abuse to go down in the first place. She explained her hot take even further by stating, “How many people made how much money on him, and nobody had enough compassion for their brother to sit him down two or three times a week to teach him how to read? And we want to know why his heart and soul was so distorted and disturbed — forgive me.”
While Iyanla Vanzant makes a strong point and is completely entitled to her opinion, it glosses over the possibility that R. Kelly simply didn’t want the help. He was essentially at the center of his own universe, one where his money and musical popularity kept him surrounded by “yes men” of all ages. A man with such influence would be hard to give any sort of direction to, and being a pedophile definitely didn’t help his case for any type of redemption. Even in watching the now-infamous 2019 sit-down with Gayle King, it’s clear that he believed his own hype and couldn’t be told otherwise.
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