‘Our pain prioritized for once’: Survivor-centred Black podcasts reckoning with Surviving R. Kelly | Intellect Skip to content
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Podcasting and Gender
  • ISSN: 1476-4504
  • E-ISSN: 2040-1388

Abstract

Calls to cancel singer R. Kelly have been around for decades, but they intensified with the twin debuts of the #MeToo and #MuteRKelly movements in 2017. The documentary, which premiered in 2019, chronicled the decades of abuse at the hands of Kelly, with appearances from survivors, their supporters and those closest to Kelly. Although what was presented in is not necessarily new information, the cultural shift that stemmed from #MuteRKelly and #MeToo helped to catapult the experiences of the primarily Black women and girls into mainstream media and ultimately led to Kelly being convicted of the crimes. Days after the documentary initially premiered in 2019, several Black podcasts reviewed the series – and . This article will provide a textual analysis of these episodes, as the episodes present a reflection on Black media, community and accountability. This article will explore how podcasts grappled with Black media’s complicity in the tangled web of abuse, while also providing survivor-centred content. Why are podcasts important spaces to grapple with difficult conversations among Black communities? What can podcast episodes show us about survivor-centred content and accountability?

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2023-07-25
2024-04-28
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http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/rjao_00074_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): #MeToo; accountability; Black girls; Black media; fast tailed girls; podcasts; sexual violence

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