Unsurprisingly, the drama continues to unfold for disgraced R&B artist R. Kelly, as earlier on Wednesday the police were called to his condo in Chicago’s Trump Tower to break up a fight between his former girlfriends, 22-year-old Azriel Clary and 23-year-old Joycelyn Savage. The fight between the women, who once sat side-by-side defending R. Kelly, was caught on camera as Clary was live on Instagram throughout the whole event. According to the footage, which can be found on TMZ, the incident began when Savage confronted Clary as she was removing her belongings out of Kelly’s condo.
“You know that’s wrong. This is his house,” Savage screams at Clary. “You’re disrespectful. You’re so evil.” The camera then falls to the ground as the women begin exchanging blows out of frame. During the brawl, Clary repeatedly yells the phrase, “You were sleeping with me when I was a minor” at Jocelyn, clearly insinuating that they had sexual relations — most likely with Kelly — when Clary was underage. The police were eventually called to the scene.
Clary, who left R. Kelly in December of 2019, stayed on Instagram Live once the police arrived, documenting the direct aftermath of the fight and her eventual trip to the police station. In the hectic aftermath, Clary states to the police that she would like to press charges against Savage while also demanding that Savage take R. Kelly’s “last two Grammys.” Clary goes on to tell those watching on Instagram that R. Kelly has been “lying to all y’all asses” and “that people like me have been lying for him. That’s why we never watched the documentary,” Clary says, referring to her and Savage never watching the searing Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly that provides painstaking detail as well as firsthand accounts of Kelly’s long history of sexually abusing and manipulating underage women. Clary claims that her and Savage “went on Gayle King as stupid as can fucking be,” directly referring to the interview in which herself and Savage passionately defend the singer. The five-minute video ends with Clary at the police station pressing charges against Savage, who was later arrested.
This all occurred on R. Kelly’s 53rd birthday. The singer is spending his birthday with an infected toe, broke and behind bars. Clary has been taken to the hospital for further evaluation. Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, released the following statement to TMZ: “I have a statement written by Azriel that she provided to me, voluntarily, after Robert was already in jail, that said she never had sex with him when she was underaged.” In the Surviving R. Kelly follow-up, Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning, which premiered on January 6, it is revealed that Kelly would often blackmail his victims with incriminating letters that he himself forced them to write.
Update, January 9: The Chicago Tribune reports that Savage was released from jail on Thursday morning after pleading not guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery charges in court, where her family was present. Police tell TMZ that Clary was allegedly punched in the face and treated for “redness and swelling of her left eye.” Savage has been ordered to appear in court on January 23 or face a penalty of $2,000.