Tyrese puts R. Kelly in his top 5 list, cautions against public condemnation of singer: ‘Let God do his job’
The R&B singer praises R. Kelly for being able to evolve and stay relevant during his decades-long career
The multi-talented Tyrese Gibson was interviewed by Fat Joe Thursday for one of the rapper’s frequent Instagram Live conversations with celebrities.
Gibson mentioned disgraced, fellow R&B singer R. Kelly and voiced his opinion on the public’s condemnation of him and other artists deemed problematic.
During the 70-minute plus interview, Joe asked Gibson, a fellow Grammy-nominated artist, for his top five all-time list of R&B singers. The “Sweet Lady” crooner answered with Brian McKnight, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Kelly and Teddy Pendergrass, who Gibson will portray in a forthcoming biopic.
Gibson singled out Kelly, praising his artistry and innovation during the 1990s.
“R. Kelly, with all of his videos, what he was doing musically and sonically and how he figured out a way to change and evolve and stay relevant over all of those years,” he said.
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From there, the “Transformers” actor stated that viewers should not be so quick to criticize him for mentioning Kelly as an influence, despite all of his legal troubles.
“I know he’s got a lot of controversy and heat on him. I get it. So, ain’t no need to get in my comments,” Gibson said.
R. Kelly is currently in custody on a string of federal charges of sex crimes, obstruction of justice and child pornography, according to NPR.
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After Joe told Gibson not to hold back, Gibson urged fans no to be so quick to judge artists for their vices.
“What I’ve learned over the years, man, is that there’s a lot of people in our industry — rather music, acting, producing, directing, studio execs, billionaires, real estate, the tech space — everybody is involved in something that they don’t ever want people to know about publicly.
“And I would say: ‘You know what, just let God do his job,'” he said.
Gibson went on to say that if every artist was judged by their vices, and those vices were made public, the artists would cease to exist.
“If I were to find out about what everybody is into, we probably wouldn’t be a fan of anybody,” Gibson told Joe.
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