Never thought my role models would be rapists – French Montana speaks on R. Kelly

American rap artist, French Montana, has publicly declared his support for R. Kelly’s alleged sexual assault victims.

The R&B legend has been on the receiving end of criticisms in recent weeks, after his alleged victims spoke out in a documentary titled ‘Surviving R.Kelly’.

“I never thought the people I looked up to as a kid, who sang and danced and gave me hope to become a superstar would become drug addicts, child molesters and rapists,” Montana tweeted on Monday.

“Let me be clear, my heart is with the victims.”

Let me be clear. My heart is with the victims. I never thought the people I looked up to as a kid, who sang and danced and gave me hope to become a superstar would become drug addicts, child molestors and rapists. I am hoping we as a culture create better leaders. We need them.

— French Montana (@FrencHMonTanA) January 13, 2019

The rapper’s position is a turnaround from his initial stance in an interview with TMZ, where he had defended the R&B singer, implying that he should be allowed to enjoy his legacy.

“They (critics) don’t let nobody have their legendary moments. They did Michael Jackson like that, they did R. Kelly like that,” Montana had said.

“All the greats went down like that. Let somebody enjoy their legacy. Whatever happened, happened, man.”

In the revelatory documentary series, multiple women attested to the sexual misconduct and pedophilia allegations against R. Kelly.

However, the singer has continued to deny the allegations while some of his alleged victims have said they associated with him on their own volition.

“The allegations aren’t true because he never knowingly had sex with an underage woman, he never forced anyone to do anything, he never held anyone captive, he never abused anyone,” Kelly said through Steve Greenberg, his lawyer.