Tamar Braxton drew the ire of fans last week when she made now-deleted tweets about Lifetime’s R. Kelly documentary where she seemed to be in support of the disgraced singer.
While watching “Surviving R. Kelly,” in which women detailed the alleged sexual abuse they experienced at the hands of the hitmaker, Braxton acknowledged that what he’s accused of doing was “BS” but also blamed those around him for allowing it to happen.
“#SurvivingRKelly yeah he did that BS, but the rest of Y’all punk asses did the WORK 4him 4yo f—in benefit!” she wrote on Jan. 4 as she watched the six-part series. “Everyone stood back & watched & did NOTHING! Then so quick to nail Rob 2the cross! Y’all R just as guilty! 😡in my opinion he’s reacting to his OWN abuse! NoneedTBshame.com.”
Among the allegations women levied against Kelly, who was molested as a child, they said he would control when they could eat and record them having sex with him or in a threesome without their consent. He’d also allegedly beat them if they disobeyed them.
Knowing that, fans took issue with Braxton, who in her tweet linked to her website in support of sexual abuse victims, appearing to take up for Kelly’s supposed actions.
“@tamarbraxton as a woman i cannot respect u what u said about the rkelly situation. Now i for sure know that u are VERY DUMB, STUPID & UNEDUCATED. And since u left Vince you look like trash 2. You stand for literally nothing. Everywhere u go is chaos. U were touched when u where younger, so that gives u the right to touch minors? B—- PLEASE … U bald b—-. Good for nothing piece of s—. You’re trash!”
“@rkelly reacting to his OWN ABUSE? Girl BYE was that supposed to be an excuse???? Yes the others are just as guilty but @rkelly being ‘abused’ shouldnt be an excuse.”
“B—-.. the fact that you are making excuses on Twitter for R Kelly is disgusting!! Not all victims of sexual abuse become predators.. that’s a dangerous narrative for your bird brain ass to repeat!!!”
Braxton, who went public with her own molestation by “multiple family members” on “The Wendy Williams Show” and on Instagram in September, removed the post and explained why on Twitter later that same day.
“This is why I deleted it. Because not ONE OUNCE of me agrees with what he has done. As a survivor, I have learned that you can’t acknowledge one abuse without the other. It’s all f—ed up!!” she tweeted.
That post was also removed later on. She then tweeted that she wouldn’t continue watching the series, which ran through Saturday night.
“Ya know…sometimes when you are not fully healed ( u never will be) u shouldn’t watch certain things. I didn’t know it would bring up so many emotions for me! Now I’m ANGRY AF, with Everyone!I wish i didn’t watch the r.Kelly doc. I won’t be watching it anymore. It’s TEW much 🤦🏽♀️.”
In a subsequent tweet, Braxton acknowledged a Twitter user who has also been sexually abused but said watching the show “empowered” them.
“Praying i can get there😔 I’m still dealing with HOW it came out!! That was devastating in itself!! Keep my lifted sis🙏🏽,” Braxton replied.
The star says she was forced to go public with her past trauma last year when, during a family sit-down with Iyanla Vanzant for “Braxton Family Values,” the discussion turned to the inter-family abuse, which led the singer to get up and walk out on the talk.
“Since someone there decided that they would ask me about something so private, so embarrassing, so secretive in front of EVERYONE that was there, I felt like my life was flashing before my eyes and IMMEDIATELY started to cry … because once again my right to choose was taken from me all over again,” she explained further on Instagram after appearing on the daytime talk show.
The Vanzant segment in question was left on the cutting room floor.
