Backup Singer Claims She Witnessed R. Kelly Being Intimate With Aaliyah

Source: Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage/Earl Gibson/BET/Getty Images for BET / Getty

Backup Singer Claims She Witnessed R. Kelly Being Intimate With Aaliyah

The personal accounts detailed in ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ are already making waves, and the three-part series hasn’t even aired yet.

According to People, the first episode of Lifetime’s documentary features a pretty explosive claim from a former member of R. Kelly’s entourage. Jovante Cunningham, a former professional backup singer who met R. Kelly when she was only 14 herself, claims that she was a firsthand witness to many of R. Kelly’s sexual encounters with underage girls while accompanying him on tour back in the 90’s.

She even claims to have briefly witnessed R. Kelly engaging in intercourse with then 15-year-old Aaliyah Haughton while the artists were touring together during the “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number” days…

“We were out on the road with Aaliyah. On a tour bus, there really aren’t many confined spaces. When you get on the bus there are bunks and so these bunks have little curtains you can pull at night if you don’t want anybody to see you sleeping. So it just so happened we were all laying in our bunks and the curtains are open, everybody’s communicating, laughing. When the [room] door flew open on the bus. Robert was having sex with Aaliyah.

[I saw] things that an adult should not be doing with a child. I can’t stress to you how people are still suffering behind things that went on 20 years ago.”

SMH! It’s not all that shocking in the grand scheme of things — it’s a well-known fact that R. Kelly married Aaliyah in secret around the same time. What is shocking is that so many other adults saw what was allegedly going on at the time and none spoke up or intervened.

However, Aaliyah’s mother claims this claim is entirely false, since she and Aaliyah’s father accompanied her on the tour in question and she was never out of their sight…

Hmm. Who do you believe? ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ premieres on Lifetime on January 3rd. Will you be tuning in?

Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage/Earl Gibson/BET/Getty Images for BET