Iyanla Vanzant apologizes to R. Kelly, says Black community abandoned him

The spiritual adviser questioned why people who profited from the singer’s career failed to offer him support, even as allegations of sexual abuse followed him for decades.

Iyanla Vanzant is asking R. Kelly for forgiveness.

During an appearance on “The Jason Lee Show,” the spiritual adviser and former “Iyanla: Fix My Life” host offered a personal apology to the incarcerated R&B singer, suggesting that she and other elders in the Black community failed to provide him with the support and guidance he needed.

“Forgive me as an elder in our community not being available to support you,” Vanzant said, addressing Kelly directly. “Forgive me for ignoring your pain. Forgive me for abandoning you.”

Vanzant then expanded her apology beyond herself, suggesting that the responsibility extended to the broader Black community.

“Our entire community abandoned him,” she said. “As an elder, I’m going to own it. We did. We abandoned him.”

But Vanzant didn’t stop there. She questioned the role of people who knew about Kelly’s struggles and continued to benefit from his success.

“People now will talk about they knew about whatever whatever and let it go on,” she said. “The people that facilitated it, they let it go on.”

She also pointed to Kelly’s reported difficulties with literacy, questioning why those who profited from his music didn’t offer him more meaningful assistance.

“How many people made how much money on him and nobody had enough compassion for their brother to sit him down two, three times a week to teach him how to read?” Vanzant asked.

“And then we want to know why his heart and his soul was so distorted and disturbed,” she continued, before repeating, “Forgive me.”

The comments are particularly striking given Kelly’s criminal convictions for sexually exploiting women and underage girls. The former R&B superstar is serving an effective 31-year federal prison sentence following separate convictions in New York and Chicago.

Vanzant’s remarks did not explicitly challenge those convictions or call for Kelly’s release. Instead, she appeared to be questioning whether community elders and people who benefited financially from his career could have done more to intervene.

Her comments also raise difficult questions about whose suffering received attention during Kelly’s decades in the spotlight.

While Vanzant suggested the Black community abandoned Kelly, many Black women, survivors and advocates spent years speaking out about allegations against him, often facing backlash for doing so. Their efforts helped bring renewed attention to accusations that had circulated for years before his federal convictions.

Vanzant’s apology adds another perspective to the conversation surrounding Kelly’s legacy, particularly the responsibility of people who held influence over his career.

Her central question is whether those who profited from Kelly’s success could have offered him the kind of guidance and intervention she believes he needed, rather than allowing his struggles and harmful behavior to go unaddressed.