The devil don’t play fair, but God do!
— AZRIELMOSTWANTED (@theonlyazriel) June 29, 2022
Azriel Clary celebrated the sentencing of disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly on Twitter Wednesday.
Clary was one of the many women that Kelly pulled into his decades-long operation of sexual abuse and manipulation. At the time of the bombshell documentary Surviving R. Kelly, Clary was living with Kelly and defended the singer from mounting accusations.
She eventually realized that she was being manipulated by the singer who once illegally married a 15-year-old Aaliyah. She testified at trial about the abuse she and other women suffered from Kelly, sharing in interviews afterward that she was coached by the singer to respond to the media.
“A piece of me was happy because I felt like this person no longer has control over me, you know?” Clary said of her ability to finally speak out against Kelly. “You don’t tell me what to do and what to wear and where to go and how long to be in a room anymore.”
At times, that freedom was hard-won. One of Kelly’s former associates set a fire outside of Clary’s Polk County home in 2019. Michael Williams, who was related to Kelly’s ex-publicist, confessed to burning a car in the driveway of Clary’s home in 2020.
The 55-year-old Kelly was sentenced today to 30 years in prison for crimes of racketeering and sex trafficking.
“You were a person who had great advantages — worldwide fame and celebrity and untold money,” U.S. District Court Judge Ann Donnelly said before handing down the sentence. “You took advantage of their hopes and dreams, holding teenagers in your house trapped. You were at the top of your organization and you raped and beat them, separated them from their families and forced them to do unspeakable things.”
After the news broke, Clary celebrated by posting “The devil don’t play fair, but God do!”