For the first time since being released from jail in late February, R. Kelly is talking. In an interview that displayed anger and emotion, he spoke with CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King and claimed that all the allegations about him are "rumors."
Kelly said, (quote) "I will tell you this: people are going back to my past and they're trying to add all of this stuff now to that to make all of the stuff that's going on now feel real to people."
In 2008, he was acquitted of child pornography charges over a video that allegedly showed him having sex with an underage girl.
Kells says his past is "absolutely not" relevant to the new accusations leveled against him by four women, three of whom were allegedly between 13 and 17 when he had sex with them.
He told King, “Hate me if you want to, love me if you want. But just use your common sense. How stupid would it be for me -- with my crazy past and what I’ve been through — oh, right now I just think I need to be a monster and hold girls against they will, chain them up in my basement, and don’t let them eat, and don’t let them out unless they need some shoes down the street.”