R. Kelly’s Music Removed From Spotify Playlists for Violating New Hate Conduct Policy
In late April, the women of color in the Time's Up movement joined the #MuteRKelly campaign and called on Spotify and Apple Music to cut ties with R. Kelly. Now, Spotify has taken the first step and has removed the singer's music from its editorial and algorithmic playlists, effective as of today (May 10).
As part of Spotify's new hate content and hateful conduct policy, the controversial singer's music will no longer appear on any of Spotify's playlists, including genre and mood-based playlists, as well as Discover Weekly, New Music Friday and more.
While Kelly's music will no longer be featured on Spotify-promoted playlists, his songs and albums will still be available to stream on the service. "We are removing R. Kelly’s music from all Spotify owned and operated playlists and algorithmic recommendations such as Discover Weekly," Spotify said in a statement to XXL.
"His music will still be available on the service, but Spotify will not actively promote it. We don’t censor content because of an artist’s or creator’s behavior, but we want our editorial decisions—what we choose to program—to reflect our values. When an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful, it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator."
Spotify has also removed XXXTentacion's music from their playlists. A spokesperson for the streaming service told XXL that they are reviewing all artists that are flagged for potentially violating the policy on a case-by-case basis.
The R&B singer has been facing allegations of sexual misconduct and imprisoning women in his home. Kelly was also recently accused of sexual abuse by two more women who came forward earlier this month. One woman—Lizzette Martinez—claims she began a relationship with R. Kelly in 1995 when she was 17 years old. According to Martinez, the singer took her virginity and physically hit her on five occasions.
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