R. Kelly sang happy birthday to his daughter Joann Kelly, who now goes by Buku Abi, but the message seemed to fall on deaf ears.
Kelly posted the song on Tuesday, March 19, for Abi’s 21st birthday, and he captioned the video “Family for life 🎹🎤🙏🏽 🎂.” The singer also relayed a message to Abi.
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“Happy birthday, baby. Daddy love you. I love you no matter what. I love you so much. “Bye. Happy birthday,” Kelly said.
On Tuesday Abi posted a photo of herself and celebrated being of legal age.
“Wow, I’m really out here, 21,” she wrote. “HAHAHHHAAAHHAHAHA BITCH I MADE IT. 21 21 21. Yerrrrrrrr.”
Afterward, Kelly’s daughter received a good number of birthday shoutouts from followers, but at least one person told her to be there for her father, since he was hit with 10 counts of sexual abuse last month.
The charges came after videotapes that allegedly depict the singer sexually abusing an underage girl were turned in to prosecutors. There are also three other alleged victims attached to the charges.
“Happy bday,” someone wrote to Abi. “Now support the man that gv you life.”
But before she responded to that message someone else did.
“God? The creator? Allah?,” wrote someone who goes by crycakez, and Abi co-signed that comment.
“@crycakez hello???????,” she wrote, seemingly agreeing that Kelly didn’t create her, God did.
In January, on Instagram, Abi addressed the many abuse allegations surrounding her father and revealed that she hasn’t had a relationship with him in years. She also called him a “monster” and extended prayers to all of his alleged victims.
Kelly was locked up for the charges last month, then released after a woman paid $100,000 to bond him out.
One of his conditions, is that he can’t leave the state of Illinois until the trial concludes, but the singer has asked a Cook County judge if he can travel to Dubai in April to perform.
The singer’s attorney argued that Kelly needs to travel in order to make money and pay his child support, and if he’s not allowed to it’ll be a financial “hardship” on his children. Kelly was locked up and released last month for owing over $161,000 in child support to his ex-wife Andrea Kelly.
