Lifetime has now responded to Drea Kelly’s threat to sue the network for using her image in the trailer for “Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning.” Drea says that she is not a part of the second documentary.
During the New York City screening of the documentary on Tues (Dec. 17), Lifetime SVP and “Surviving R. Kelly” executive producer Brie Miranda Bryant spoke to Page Six about Drea’s plans to sue.
“I hope she feels differently after she sees it,” Bryant told Page Six. “The pieces that were in the trailer are from her interview in part one. She did not sit for Part Two.”
Bryant also responded to Kelly’s concerns about the network not providing aftercare for the survivors who participated in the first documentary. She said, “We had two therapists who were able to consult with the survivors and participants after every interview who were there throughout the duration [of production],” Bryant asserted. “We have, it may have hit 23 advocacy groups that have helped us during the making of the series to make sure we were staying within proper parameters.”
“Even decisions in terms of how we speak of these women; ‘are you a survivor’ or ‘are you a victim?’ These are conversations we really had to have,” she continued. “How do they view themselves? What’s the appropriate lens for that? We’ve tried to take it as seriously as possible. First and foremost, it’s about the survivors feeling heard and getting them the justice they feel that they need.”
A rep for Lifetime told Page Six that Kelly refused to participate in any of the things that the other survivors did. Lifetime recently invited her to attend The Wrap Women’s Event where there was a tribute to them for sharing their stories, and she did not come.
Since the Lifetime response, Kelly has yet to comment.