Erykah Badu Attempts to Clarify Her ‘Prayer’ for R. Kelly

By Jem Aswad

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Erykah Badu took to Twitter Sunday night in an attempt to clarify her “prayer” for R. Kelly, which she spoke about during a Saturday concert in Chicago.

“I don’t know how everybody else feels about it but I’m putting up a prayer right now for R.,” she said to the crowd before referencing the longstanding allegations of sexual misconduct against the singer that were detailed in the recent Lifetime documentary “Surviving .” “I hope he sees the light of day if he’s done all the things that we’ve seen on TV that these ladies are talking about.”

The crowd wasn’t having it and responded negatively.

“But y’all say ‘f— it!’ See, that’s not love. That’s not unconditional,” Badu continued. “But what if one of the people that was assaulted by R. Kelly grows up to be an offender, we gonna crucify them? I mean how do we do this? Just something to think about.”

Taking to Twitter Sunday, Badu attempted to clarify her statements.

“I love you. Unconditionally. That doesn’t mean I support your poor choices,” she tweeted, presumably at Kelly. “I want healing for you and anyone you have hurt as a result of you being hurt. Is that strange to you? That’s all I’ve ever said. Anything else has been fabricated or taken out of context.”

She continued to exchange and repost views on social media after that post.

Badu has spoken up for Kelly in the past, introducing him at the Soul Train Awards in 2015 as someone who has “done more for black people than anyone.”

Last year, the Guardian notes, she gave an interview to New York magazine  in which she declared her love for Bill Cosby and said: “I see good in everybody. I saw something good in Hitler,” and praised his paintings. She said she didn’t regret those comments in a later  interview with the Guardian .