London On Da Track’s mom, Cheryl Mack, testifies during the R. Kelly trial
Mack said she signed a pre-written affidavit to protect Kelly from sexual harassment claims
Cheryl Mack, the mother of music producer, London On Da Track, shared a tearful testimony in the New York trial against R&B singer R. Kelly.
Mack, who was the disgraced singer’s executive assistant from 2013 to 2015, testified that she was bullied into signing incriminating false apology letters, wasn’t paid for periods of time and watched him humiliate young women, amongst other abusive acts.
The Brooklyn trial related to the charges of racketeering and sex trafficking against the singer began on August 18.
The former talent manager discussed in detail several occasions where she was made to feel uncomfortable, including one instance where Kelly became enraged at her at a McDonald’s after accusing her of “spoiling” a surprise birthday gift for his stylist.
“I just had enough,” she said about the altercation in which she claims Kelly yelled and cursed at her while pounding the table. “And in that moment, I quit.”
Mack, who was seen clutching tissues and crying during her testimony, said she did not want to be there but was subpoenaed by prosecutors.
Litigation regarding sexual abuse by the 54-year-old singer has come to a head following decades of allegations and documented abuses.
The first wave of allegations dates back to the early 1990s when the singer began a public and illegal relationship with the late singer Aaliyah, who was 15-years-old at the time.
Prosecutors allege that Kelly paid off an Illinois state employee in order to get Aaliyah a fake ID because he believed that he got the teenager pregnant and needed to marry her so she would not be forced to testify against him in court.
His next mainstream instance of foul play happened in 2002 when a video of the singer having sexual intercourse and eventually urinating on a 14-year-old was released to the public.
A history of Kelly’s abuses was detailed in a 2017 Lifetime exposè, Surviving R. Kelly where numerous victims and former associates shared their experiences of being emotionally, physically, sexually, and mentally abused and coerced by the singer.
The series spearheaded several investigations into the singer, which resulted in a number of lawsuits in places like Chicago and New York.
Mack’s history with Kelly started in 2009 when she was the talent manager for a 17-year-old artist named Precious, she said in her testimony.
Kelly invited the artists to his studio to collaborate, which led to her moving into a hotel near the singer’s home.
Mack said the partnership ended after Kelly demanded her to travel to Chicago from Atlanta because Precious threatened to sue him for sexual harassment.
“He told me she was trying to file a lawsuit, and I needed to pick a team,” said Mack, who also said that Kelly told her that “people come up missing” in situations like this.
He then made her sign a pre-written affidavit, that she said she never read, and found out later, that the lawsuit had been “resolved.”
She later reconnected with the singer in 2013, when she became his assistant and saw firsthand the metaphorical hold the singer had on countless young women.
She claimed that the singer had “strict rules” for the copious women he was dealing with, including one occasion where he made the women he was involved with sit facing a wall at a basketball game, so they wouldn’t make eye contact with other men.
She also recalls a time when the singer felt like he was not paid enough for a gig, and stopped paying her for months “to offset what he thought [the payment] should’ve been.”
The trial resumes next week with testimony from clinical psychologist Dana Hughesa, who will be speaking about the effects of grooming and sexual abuse on young girls.
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