Taraji P Henson denies defending R Kelly after controversial Instagram post about Harvey Weinstein
Henson says she believes Kelly to be 'guilty and wrong'
Taraji P Henson has spoken out against R Kelly after apparently implying in a controversial Instagram post that the musician has faced less backlash than Harvey Weinstein.
The actor had previously posted about Kelly and Weinstein on her Instagram Story, in a post that is no longer available.
She had compared the Instagram search results for the hashtag #muterkelly, which has been widely used by social media users speaking out against the singer, as well as for #muteweinstein and #muteharveyweinstein.
The Weinstein hashtags haven't been as commonly used. However, the movie mogul has been criticised by a number of public figures. The allegations against him, unveiled in October 2017, have popularised the #MeToo hashtag, giving more prominence to the movement previously launched by activist Tarana Burke.
Henson's search on Instagram rendered 33,300 posts for the #muterkelly hashtag, but only one for #muteweinstein and 29 for #muteharveyweinstein.
"Hmmmmm," she wrote next to a puzzled emoji, apparently claiming there was something suspicious about the discrepancy.
The post prompted backlash on social media, were some called Henson's comparison a "false equivalency" and said the use of the word "mute" didn't make as much sense for Weinstein since he's not a musician.
"Mute R Kelly is about not supporting his MUSIC. There would be no MUTE Harvey Weinstein hashtag considering he’s not a musical artist... why do yall wanna defend R. Kelly by any means necessary?" one person wrote.
"Somebody tell @TherealTaraji that Harvey Weinstein isn’t a musician so there won’t be a mute for him," someone else tweeted.
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Henson clarified her stance on Kelly on Twitter on Wednesday, writing: "LET ME BE CLEAR R. KELLY IS GUILTY AND WRONG AND SHOULD BE MUTED PERIOD!!!!!"
Kelly, 52, has faced a number of sexual misconduct accusations of the past two decades.
The claims have received renewed attention following the release of the six-part Lifetime documentary Surviving R Kelly earlier this month.
He has denied any wrongdoing.