Intersectionality and hashtag journalism: Scandals giving women and girls of color a voice in the united states’ media coverage of the r. kelly

This empirical chapter examines how the R. Kelly scandal was reported in the US press after the revitalization of the #MeToo 2.0 movement in October 2017, which was sparked by the Weinstein scandal. In July 2017, Buzzfeed published an article alleging that R. Kelly (Robert Sylvester Kelly), a Grammy Award–winning, African American, rhythm and blues musician had sexually abused girls of color for decades. This chapter investigates whether intersectionality and the hashtag movement (e.g., #MuteRKelly) resulted in an increased coverage of the R. Kelly scandal by the New York Times, Washington Post. Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. Analyzing articles (n = 113) from these presses, it examines the reporting about the scandal from the revitalization of #MeToo in mid-October 2017 until September 30, 2021, after the musician’s final conviction. It found that unlike the Weinstein scandal, the R. Kelly scandal received scant media coverage because his musical brilliance was an excuse for his misogynist violence, and the accusers (women and girls of color) were insignificant to the Black men’s profession. However, as hashtag movements gained momentum in 2018, and the documentary series Surviving R. Kelly aired in 2019, the presses began to report on the R. Kelly scandal from an intersectional lens and gave a voice to the victim survivors.