During the latest episode of his eponymous show, Stephen A. Smith suggested that R. Kelly has made some of the best songs to have sex to and it’s okay to say so because he’s in prison now.
“The best sex song, he’s asking me that, oh man… It’s a few of them,” he said at the 37:50 point of the episode, as seen above when responding to tweets sent in by fans. “Listen, it’s a few, I can’t give you one. I loved Troop, ‘All I Do is Think of You,’ it’s an oldie right there. ‘A House is Not a Home’ by Luther Vandross, we can’t ignore that. You talking to an old school brother right here, but trust me, take notes, take lessons. I kind of am experienced [with] something like this. Just trust me on this okay? I kind of know this, alright? Teddy Pendergrass, ‘Turn off the Lights.’ I mean, that’s a nice one, that’s a nice one. ‘Adore,’ Prince. We can’t go wrong with that.”
From there, he shifted his attention to R. Kelly, the 56-year-old disgraced Chicago singer who is currently serving time in prison following his 2022 conviction for sex trafficking, child pornography, and sexual exploitation of a minor. He is serving 31 years imprisonment and isn’t scheduled for release until December 2045, at which point he will be 86 years old.
“I don’t want to bring up R. Kelly, but I think it’s okay now because he’s in jail now. If he was not in jail it would not be okay, because he’s getting away with stuff, but now that they finally got his ass and he’s in jail it’s okay to bring up R. Kelly music now,” Smith continued. “‘Dedicated’ was a beautiful song, okay. ‘Your Body’s Calling,’ that was another one, okay? 12 Play couldn’t be ignored, there’s a few by R. Kelly. ‘Honey Love,’ there’s a few by R. Kelly. We can’t act like we don’t know that, all right? So there’s quite a few, you know.”
After the segment started to circulate on social media, many fans pointed out that it’s not, in fact, okay to recommend R. Kelly’s music. Others were just in awe of the rollercoaster Smith took his viewers on with the segment, which later pivots to dietary advice for when you’re planning to take things to the bedroom.