Dame Dash Speaks On Aaliyah's Marriage To R. Kelly: 'Aaliyah Was Like The Sacrificial Lamb'
In the wake of Lifetime’s bombshell investigative docu-series Surviving R. Kelly, on the long-standing allegations casting a dark shadow over R. Kelly’s music career, he has since been locked away behind bars for 2019. According to numerous reports, the disgraced Chicago R&B artist faces multiple state and federal charges pertaining to sex-trafficking, kidnapping, bribery, and child pornography dating back to over a decade ago.
On Thursday (Jan. 2), the television network will premiere the sequel to the series Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning that will feature new interviews and more insight into the ensuing legal case against the fallen R&B star.
Ahead of the series’ televised premiere tonight, TMZ has exclusively obtained a preview of Dame Dash’s appearance on The Reckoning. In the minute-long clip published to the outlet’s website on Thursday (Jan. 2), the Roc-A-Fella co-founder shared some of his personal misgivings concerning Kelly’s predatory relationship with his former protégé, late R&B songstress Aaliyah. In 1994, the 27-year-old Kelly unlawfully married Aaliyah when she was only 15 years old. The marriage was later annulled by Aaliyah’s parents, and she would go on to date Dash before her untimely death in 2001.
“Aaliyah was like the sacrificial lamb for all of that because she didn’t deserve none of that,” Dame reflected. He continued explaining what he perceived as Aaliyah’s changed feelings towards Kelly after the marriage was annulled.
“[She was] a good soul, [a] good girl, and [she] wasn’t even resentful, like ‘let that man live but just keep him the f**k away from me.’ That’s all she wanted. She was just happy to be away [from Kelly],” he stated.
“I know the whole story,” he added. “I know it was the cover up and all of that. But how does that cover it up? It just made the conversation less crazy. Like ‘Oh, he married a child? That was a headline. That was like, a rumor. That was something talked about like it was normal. It wasn’t like ‘Ew, disgusting. You married a 13-year-old.’ It was like ‘Oh, he married Aaliyah?’ She’s 13!”
Presumably, one of the producers behind the camera sai that Aaliyah was 15 years old at the time of the illegal union, to which the media mogul responded, “I don’t have to be accurate because I don’t care. 15, 13, anything under 18 is disgusting. She was a child.”
Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning starts airing this Thursday (Dec. 2). The three-part event will conclude on Saturday (Dec. 4).
Watch Dame Dash’s preview clip here.
