Video footage from a recent episode of “Love and Hip Hop: Miami” showed Safaree Samuels going crazy on his cast mate Marcus Black, and fans are calling it his R. Kelly moment.
Many immediately connected the rapper, who recently said on the “Keep It A Stack” podcast that seeing Nicki Minaj kiss Nas in a music video hurt his heart, with one of the most iconic emotional explosions made by an entertainer in modern history.
“I’m fighting for my mother—king life, man. I’m fighting for my life, Marcus. They killing me. I’m fighting for my life,” Safaree said in a rage during the March episode. “These girls. They just keep talking about me, and it’s not a game. This is my life.”
Part of Samuels’ storyline this season is his love triangle between Amara La Negra and Eliza Reign. He dated Amara last season and even splurged on Rolex watches for her twin daughters. The two later fell out and now he has attached himself to Reign, who also happens to be the mother of one of rapper Future’s eight children.
The ladies were in the midst of building a friendship when Amara, who had no clue about Eliza and Samuels dating, revealed that she had a song coming with him. Eliza then revealed that Samuels told her he and Amara were never together. In order to help his friend determine, why he dates women in the same circle, Marcus called a sit-down.
“When you gon cut the crap bro? When you gone knock it off?” he said to Samuels.
After his outburst, Samuels storms out the glass door of the restaurant/bar where the scene was being filmed, leaving Marcus sitting alone to make sense of what happened.
He, like many of the viewers, made one obvious pop culture reference — linking the dramatic pangs of the Queens rapper to that of disgraced Grammy-award winner R. Kelly.
Immediately, Marcus picked up the phone to call someone. He explained that he was sitting with Samuels thinking that the two were “about to have a breakthrough,” when everything went left.
“He’s like nobody ever gets to hear my side of the story,” Marcus says, before sharing, “He gets up and goes R. Kelly on me.”
Fans on social media could not help but drag that flamboyant rapper and father of two for his performance.
“R Kelly rolling over in his cell,” one person said, while another wrote, “Please stop airing these shows. Not the Robert Kelly line.” An Instagram user renamed him, “Ok Safaree Kelly.”
At one point, VH1 hopped in the comments and attempted to clarify, writing, “He is so unserious,” but that did not matter, as people raced to post how lame and corny they thought Samuels was for saying the now infamous line.
“Ph—k Boy Safaree & his bad R Kelly impression smh #LAHHM,” one X user tweeted.
Phuck Boy Safaree & his bad R Kelly impression smh #LAHHM pic.twitter.com/0CCGsFWA17
— RonnieTheOneandOnly (@LDHFab40) March 13, 2024
Another posted, “Did Safaree think his R. Kelly in fighting for my life moment was realistic or funny? This is weird #LHHMIA.”
Like what on earth is going on? Very attention seeking
— PHOENX (@I_Am_Phoenx) March 12, 2024
In 2019, before being convicted of RICO charges linked to the sexual abuse of minors, R. Kelly was interviewed on “CBS Mornings” by Gayle King — and broke down as she drilled him with some hard questions about relationships with those accusing him of crimes.
He said, “Quit playing. I didn’t do this stuff. This is not me. I am fighting for my f—ing life. Y’all killing me with this s—t.”
As he screamed that he had given the world 30 years of his career, King calmly called his name, “Robert,” and encouraged him in vain to calm down.
“Y’all trying to kill me. You killing me man. This is not about music,” the “Pied Piper of R&B” said before finally sitting and getting his makeup freshened up.
During the sit-down, Kelly had two of his girlfriends with him, Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary. Both ladies fiercely defended him during the interview with King.
Clary has since denounced the singer and stated that she was abused by him and others.
Savage announced in August 2022 that she was pregnant by the singer. The 26-year-old released a 11-page book (print length at 24 pages) and talked about being with child on Amazon.
“Months later, I began expecting severe morning sickness and was unsure what was wrong with my body. I thought I had contracted COVID-19, but the most amazing news of all was that I was expecting,” she said.
“It was a happy day but an incomplete time in my life,” she added. “Today I am grateful to God for giving me the most precious gift. Robert is extremely excited about the news that I am having a baby and feels sad that Robert will not be able to be here with us.”
Kelly’s lawyer Jennifer Bonjean, disputed Savage’s claim at the time, telling TMZ Savage “is certainly not pregnant with R. Kelly’s child.” The disgraced singer already had been jailed for months at the time of Savage’s baby announcement.
A broke and destitute Kelly is currently in prison. He was convicted of three federal counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity in Chicago and was sentenced in February 2023 to 20 years in federal prison, with one year to run consecutive to the 30-year sentence previously imposed in the Eastern District of New York, according to the Justice Department.
In 2021, the singer was convicted of nine counts of a superseding indictment charging him with racketeering predicated on criminal conduct including sexual exploitation of children, forced labor, and Mann Act violations involving the coercion and transportation of women and girls in interstate commerce to engage in illegal sexual activity in the New York federal court.
