#MuteRKelly protesters are turning up the heat on R. Kelly’s record label.
The group — comprised of organizations including Black Women’s Blueprint, Girls for Gender Equity, the National Organization for Women, and UltraViolet, to name a few — gathered outside Sony Music headquarters in New York City Wednesday morning to demand RCA Records drop the “Fiesta” singer.
Protesters descended on the Manhattan building to deliver 217,394 signatures calling for the R&B performer’s removal — in light of renewed sexual abuse allegations against him in a new Lifetime documentary series.
The series addressed claims that Kelly had sex with underage girls, and alleged that he had a history of picking up teenagers at a high school in Chicago and at shopping malls. Kelly has denied all of the allegations made in the docuseries.
Read More: Activists Announce Boycott of Radio Stations Playing R. Kelly Music
In light of the allegations, #MuteRKelly protesters want RCA to give the singer the boot. Some fans expressed their demands via posters, with one sign saying: “Record label Complicit in Assault (RCA).”
Others participated in a group chant, shouting: “RCA, You’re to blame, stop protecting R. Kelly’s fame.”
“We believe Black women and girls,” was another popular refrain heard at the protest.
Singer Abby Dobson performed at the event, a moment that was captured by advocacy group Now-NYC and posted to Twitter.
Other supporters shared strongly-worded messages on social media.
“@RCARecords do the right thing RCA records,” one person tweeted. “Drop R Kelly … don’t allow him to continue the abuse of young women… The world will respect your actions.”
Sources connected to RCA told TMZ earlier this month that the label will not “produce any of the singer’s new music, it will not put money behind any of his projects, and it will not release any additional music until criminal investigations in Georgia and other fallout are resolved one way or the other.”
RCA, however, has yet to release an official statement regarding R. Kelly’s future with the company.
The protest came after Lifetime’s six-part docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly, debuted on Jan. 3.
The series included interviews with women alleging the were sexually abused by the singer. Several celebrities, including John Legend, Wendy Williams, R&B singer Sparkle and #MeToo movement founder Tarana Burke also sat down for interviews with the team behind the series.
Former R. Kelly protégé Sparkle, who alleges her teenage niece was abused by the singer, got emotional in the trailer. “I should never have introduced her to him,” Sparkle said through tears.
Kelly was acquitted of child pornography charges by a Chicago jury in 2008.
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