Celine Dion is reportedly pulling her R. Kelly collaboration ‘I’m Your Angel’ from streaming services, following the allegations of sexual misconduct made against the R&B star.
The 50-year-old singer recorded the track – which was written by R. Kelly – in 1998 for her holiday album ‘These are Special Times’, but after accusations of sexual assault were made by a host of women against Kelly in new Lifetime documentary series ‘Surviving R. Kelly’, Celine has decided to remove the song from streaming services.
According to TMZ, the song – who was nominated for a Grammy, and sold more than 1.5 million copies – is in the process of being pulled by Celine’s team, after the singer made the move to distance herself from Kelly.
Celine isn’t the only star to have removed her collaboration with Kelly from streaming services either, as Lady Gaga chose to take down 2013 track ‘Do What U Want’ last week.
Gaga also took to social media to apologise for working with Kelly in a lengthy note, which read: “I stand behind these women 1000%, believe them, know they are suffering and in pain, and feel strongly that their voices should be heard and taken seriously.
“What I am hearing about the allegations against R Kelly is absolutely horrifying and indefensible. As a victim of sexual assault myself, I made both the song and the video at a dark time in my life. My intention was to create something extremely defiant and provocative because I was angry and still hadn’t processed the trauma that had occurred in my own life. The song is called Do What U Want (With My Body), I think it’s clear how explicitly twisted my thinking was at the time.
“If I could go back and have a talk with my younger self I’d tell her to go through the therapy I have since then, so that I could understand the confused post-traumatic state that I was in – or if therapy was not available to me or anyone in my situation – to seek help, and speak as openly and honestly as possible about what we’ve been through.
“I can’t go back, but I can go forward and continue to support women, men, and people of all sexual identities, and of all races, who are victims of sexual assault. I have demonstrated my stance on this issue and others many times throughout my career. I share this not to make excuses for myself, but to explain. Til it happens to you, you don’t know how it feels. But I do know how I feel now. I intend to remove this song off of iTunes and other streaming platforms and will not be working with him again.
“I’m sorry, both for my poor judgment when I was young, and for not speaking out sooner”.