Family of Joycelyn Savage lashes out at R. Kelly camp
ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - The family of a young Atlanta woman who claims she’s being held against her will by embattled R&B singer R. Kelly blasted the Kelly camp Monday.
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At a Monday morning news conference outside of their attorney’s office in Decatur, the family of Joycelyn Savage and attorney Gerald Griggs criticized the Kelly camp for not arranging a meeting between the family and the woman as promised.
If nothing nefarious is happening, it's very easy to pick up the phone and contact my office so we can set up that in person meeting."
Attorney Griggs says a spokesman for Kelly contacted the Savages last week, promising to arrange the meeting with Joycelyn outside of Kelly’s presence.
But as of Monday morning, that meeting has not been scheduled.
“What we want, and what we’ve always demanded from the very beginning, we’re a little disheartened this morning, is a meeting in person with Joycelyn Savage, which we were promised on Wednesday," Griggs told FOX 5’s Deidra Dukes and other reporters. "Since Wednesday, day after day after day have passed, public statements have been made by Mr. Kelly and members of Mr. Kelly’s team but yet, no one has called the office line at this law office which has been in constant operation to set up a meeting. This further underscores the deception and the continued false public narrative being placed out there in front of the media and in front of social media, by Mr. Robert Sylvester Kelly.”
The Savages believed Kelly has brainwashed their daughter and insist she is being held against her will.
The charges are the latest development in a case that has taken many twists and turns over the past two weeks, following a grand jury in Chicago indicting the 52-year-old singer on 10 counts of allegedly sexually abusing four females dating back to 1998, including three underage girls.
In an emotional interview last Wednesday with CBS This Morning’s Gayle King, Kelly cried, stood up and ranted about being "assassinated." Kelly called his accusers liars and said people – including the Savages – are after him for his money.
After his network appearance, the Savages held a news conference last Wednesday where they denied Kelly’s claims that they had given him their daughter for money.
After the Wednesday news conference, Griggs received a phone call from a member of R. Kelly's management team saying they wanted to arrange a phone conversation between Jocelyn and her parents. The 23-year-old called, but wouldn't say much about where she was or who was with her.
"I need you all to listen. I've told you a million times that I'm okay. I'm happy where I am and I need you to understand that," Jocelyn said on a phone call recorded by her father after her attorney placed the call on a speakerphone for all of the Savages to hear.
Her mother, Jonjelyn, asked where she was and why she hasn't called in two years or come home for family funerals. Her sisters, 18-year-old Jailyn and 11-year-old Jori, also chimed in, telling Joycelyn they loved her and asked her to come home.
Kelly, one of the best-selling music artists of all time, said in the CBS interview he never sexually abused women or controlled their lives.
On Monday, a Pennsylvania man claimed he has discovered another incriminating tape that shows the singer sexually abusing an underage girl.
The new allegation comes after his release from jail on Friday for failing to pay more than $100,000 in child support.