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Surviving R. Kelly Producer Says Jive and BET Executives Declined Interviews, Too

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 25: R. Kelly performs in concert at Barclays Center on September 25, 2015 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Pont/Getty Images)

Journalist dream hampton, executive producer of Surviving R. Kelly, this week shared the names of several high-profile Kelly collaborators, including Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, who she said declined to be interviewed for the documentary series on Kelly’s decades of alleged sexual misconduct, which premiered last night on Lifetime. Today hampton added to the list several music and television executives instrumental to Kelly’s career and fame.

“People I wanted to come on camera waaaay more than any celeb, but refused: Barry Weiss, former head of RCA/Jive, Ann Carli of Jive Records, BET Executives who greenlit his appearance on award shows, including Debra Lee and Stephen Hill, his biographer, David Ritz,” hampton tweeted.

Weiss served as Jive’s chief executive during Kelly’s solo debut on the label in 1993 and through the singer’s 2000s child pornography case before departing in 2011. Last year Weiss denied knowing anything about Kelly’s alleged sexual abuse in an interview with the Washington Post, saying, “I wasn’t involved in his criminal cases. We were a record company, for God’s sakes.”

Of the individuals who allegedly declined interviews for Lifetime’s series, only Questlove has responded. “I didn’t wanna be in the ‘good times’ portion of the doc, like stanning for his ‘genius’. I was asked to talk about his genius,” the drummer and producer wrote in a since-deleted tweet. hampton later denied requesting that Questlove discuss Kelly’s “genius.”

The third and fourth episodes of Surviving R. Kelly air tonight, followed by the final two installments tomorrow night.