[1] Founded by Kenyette Barnes and Oronike Odeleye in 2017, the movement played a significant part in drawing renewed attention to decades-long allegations against the singer, and became especially prominent following the 2019 release of the documentary series Surviving R. Kelly.From his illegal marriage to R&B singer Aaliyah, who was 15 at the time, to his controversial 2008 acquittal on charges of child pornograhy, the allegations caught significant media attention but had hitherto little impact on his career."[5] That same month, Jim DeRogatis reported for BuzzFeed News on new allegations, detailing three sets of parents accusing the singer of holding their daughters in an "abusive cult".[6] At the time of its founding, co-founder Odeleye described the campaign as such: "#MuteRKelly continues until the Black community has fully financially divested from the man and his music and we tackle the overwhelming issue of sexual abuse".[15] The Time's Up movement released an open letter calling out Apple, Spotify, Ticketmaster, Sony Music and other companies to end their financial relationship with R.