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Columbus Short Shares His Stance On The #MuteRKelly Movement 'On Behalf Of Black Men,' And Twitter Is Confused

The actor served time for domestic violence.

Since the necessary dialogue surrounding R. Kelly's allegedly troubling predatory ways on young Black girls — as explained through the recently aired Lifetime docu-series, Surviving R. Kelly — has been sparked, several celebrities have publicly voiced that they have decided to cancel all consumption of his music.

One of the latest to do so is disgraced actor Columbus Short, who recently took to social media to co-sign the #MuteRKelly movement. However, he was quickly met with comments of confusion by fans who brought up a detail from his own not-so-distant past.

Taking to Instagram, the former Scandal star started out by sharing that he once immensely admired the R&B singer through his work in the genre.

"I just want to speak on this R. Kelly thing. I'ma keep it real brief and real sweet," he said. "It's got to stop. It's ridiculous. I'm speaking [as] as father, I'm speaking as a producer, I'm speaking as [an] artist. I looked up to this man very, very much as a writer, as a songwriter and all that, but none of this behavior is acceptable."

Shifting gears, he then admitted to feeling disgusted after hearing the stories expressed by Kelly's accusers before vowing to no longer indulge in his music, "on behalf of Black men."

"If you're talented and you work hard, you should be able to accomplish your dreams without running into sickos," he continued. "Black men, we are not all like that. We are not predators. R. Kelly is not us. So, on behalf of Black men, and on behalf of Black men with a daughter, #MuteRKelly."

Listen to his comments, in full, below:

  • While several fans were relieved to learn that Short had chosen the side that he did, they found his comments to be ironic as he, himself, has a history of abusing women.

    It was reported in 2018 that the actor was sentenced to 36 months probation and domestic violence education for hitting his wife, Aida Abramyan, during an argument. Since he was already on probation for a 2014 incident, he wound up being sentenced to a year in jail.

    See how Twitter reacted to Short's words, below:

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