Teddy Riley took to social media late Thursday to walk back earlier comments he\u2019d made about wanting to work with the disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly.<\/p>\n
In an interview with The Times published on Wednesday, the veteran producer and musician \u2014 widely known as the architect of the new jack swing sound that dominated Black pop in the late 1980s and early 1990s \u2014 said he\u2019d \u201ctalked a few times\u201d with Kelly, who\u2019s serving a 30-year prison sentence after a jury convicted him of racketeering and sex trafficking charges, and that he\u2019s \u201cbringing in investors\u201d to help release some portion of the 25 albums Kelly has said he\u2019s recorded in prison.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody deserves a second chance,\u201d Riley told The Times. \u201cEveryone deserves to repent, and everyone gets forgiven by God when you come to him. People miss [Kelly\u2019s] music. I\u2019m the messenger to bring R&B back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet Thursday he appeared to changed course.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a producer, I\u2019ve always been excited about the possibilities of music and creative collaboration,\u201d he wrote in an Instagram post. \u201cThat excitement has defined my career. But I also understand that words carry weight, and I never want my passion for music to overshadow the very real pain that many people have experienced.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf my comments caused hurt, I sincerely apologize,\u201d he added. \u201cThat was never my intention. I take seriously the impact that abuse and misconduct have had on survivors and their families. Their experiences matter, and they deserve to be acknowledged with care and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Riley, whose long career has included collaborations with Michael Jackson, Bobby Brown and Keith Sweat, described his plan to work with Kelly as \u201ca creative idea discussed in passing. It is not something that will move forward. Loving music and recognizing its cultural impact does not mean condoning harmful behavior, and I want to be clear about that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have spent my life building a legacy rooted in innovation, integrity, and love for the art form. That remains my focus. I appreciate the dialogue, and I remain committed to moving forward with intention and accountability,\u201d said Riley, who this month published a book, \u201cRemember the Times,\u201d about his life and work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you to everyone who continues to support me, my memoir, and the journey,\u201d he wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Teddy Riley took to social media late Thursday to walk back earlier comments he\u2019d made about wanting to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5676,7957,87723,14545,11417,87722,40287,48,52,51,1637,47,50,49,330,592,37413,87720,87719,1791,87721],"class_list":{"0":"post-186207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-career","9":"tag-creative-collaboration","10":"tag-early-comment","11":"tag-impact","12":"tag-instagram-post","13":"tag-intention","14":"tag-kelly","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-la-headlines","17":"tag-la-news","18":"tag-life","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","21":"tag-los-angeles-news","22":"tag-music","23":"tag-people","24":"tag-prison-sentence","25":"tag-r-kelly","26":"tag-teddy-riley","27":"tag-times","28":"tag-veteran-producer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}