??R Kelly Defends Bill Cosby, Calls Sexual Assault Case ‘Strange’ – Despite His Infamous Relationship With Aaliyah

R&B singer R. Kelly has recently come forward, claiming that he finds the Bill Cosby sexual assault allegations to be “strange.” During an interview with OK magazine, Kelly, 49, appears to be defending Bill Cosby against all of the allegations that are being thrown at him.

“When I look on TV and I see the 70-, 80-, 90-year-old ladies talking about what happened when they were 17, 18, or 19, there’s something strange about it,” R. Kelly said.

“Just like having no father, that’s a generational curse. Which is why, when my kids were born, I was Bill Cosby in the house. You know, the good one. You know, let’s be clear there: How we saw Bill Cosby when we were coming up,” Kelly said.

R. Kelly Says There’s “Something Strange” About The Allegations Against Bill Cosby https://t.co/9hEb0vZw4y pic.twitter.com/bpDcgtT7Bw

— The Source Magazine (@TheSource) January 20, 2016

Bill Cosby had spent decades being an extremely positive role model for the black community, although the comedian has been known to deliver several speeches, condemning young black men and being overly critical with his “respectability politics.” It is a term that refers to a marginalized group morally policing members of their own group, relating their social value to what mainstream society thinks, as opposed to disregarding the mainstream’s failed attempt to accept whatever differences there may be. Bill Cosby’s “Pound Cake Speech” in 2004 is a perfect example.

A black man was shot and killed for stealing a piece of pound cake, leaving many within the black community to scream in outrage over his unnecessary death. Instead of acknowledging this, Bill Cosby emphasized the fact that the man should not have been holding the pound cake to begin with, blaming the victim and allowing the fatal result to exist without any scrutiny. And throughout this speech, which took place during an NAACP awards ceremony, Cosby harshly criticized single parents and a lack of responsibility within the black community. Since then, the Bill Cosby Show star began losing fans and respect within the African-American community.

R. Kelly says that the only person who can convince him that Bill Cosby is guilty of the rape allegations, is God.

“If God showed me that they were telling the truth, I would say that’s wrong. I don’t care if it was a zillion years ago. But God would have to do that, because God is the only one can show me that. No man can tell me that. No woman can tell me that. And when you wait 70 years, 50 years, 40 years, to say something that simple, it’s strange. You know why I say that is because it happened to me, and it wasn’t true.”

R. Kelly opens up about the time he was regularly sexually abused as a child:https://t.co/ug742ZnlcK pic.twitter.com/hwZMpyriA5

— REVOLT (@revolttv) January 20, 2016

R. Kelly recently released his album The Buffet, a project that has not been selling as well as some of his previous efforts. During an interview with The Huffington Post in December, Kelly stormed out and made headlines, upset that the interview had turned to the topic of sexual abuse allegations against him.

R. Kelly, who was born Robert Kelly, has openly admitted that he had an upbringing that involved sexual abuse, as well as an absentee father, in the South Side of Chicago. In Kelly’s 2012 memoir, Soulacoaster, the singer mentions several premature sexual experiences, one which included a family friend trying to get a young Robert Kelly to perform a sexual favor on him in exchange for money.

Later in life, during his music career as a producer, he worked with the 15-year-old niece of his manager, Aaliyah, helping her write songs for her debut album Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number. In 1994 at the Billboard Music Awards, Kelly won the Best R&B Artist award and thanked “my best friend in the whole wide world, Aaliyah.” Needless to say, the two had become very close, with rumors suggesting their relationship was romantic.

R. Kelly and Aaliyah were married on August 31, 1994, according to a marriage certificate discovered by Vibe magazine at the time. It was later annulled and the two never worked together again, with neither of them confirming the details of the annulled marriage.

Kelly was acquitted of child pornography charges back in 2008. Once the trial was over, court documents were released to the media, one included a woman claiming she was paid by someone close to Kelly, through jurors. Though the testimony she gave was not found to be credible enough. The singer also admits that he paid women who accused him of underage sex.

R. Kelly says he made an attempt to be more like Bill Cosby when he had children of his own.

[Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images]