US star Lady Gaga has pledged to remove her 2013 collaboration with singer R Kelly from music streaming services following fresh abuse allegations him.
In a post online, Gaga condemned the allegations in the newly released “Surviving R Kelly” documentary as "absolutely horrifying and indefensible."
She said she was in a “confused post-traumatic state” when she recorded Do What U Want With My Body with Kelly after having suffered her own sexual assault.
Kelly has not been charged in relation to any of the allegations in the documentary and continues to deny any wrongdoing.
I stand by anyone who has ever been the victim of sexual assault: pic.twitter.com/67sz4WpV3i
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) January 10, 2019
In her Twitter post Gaga said: "I stand behind these women 1000%, believe them, know they are suffering and in pain and feel strongly that their voices should be heard and taken seriously."
She said she recorded the song with Kelly at a “dark time in my life.”
“My intention was to create something extremely defiant and provocative because I was angry and still hadn’t processed the trauma that had occurred in my own life.
The track includes the lyrics "You can't have my heart and you won't use my mind, but do what you want with my body."
The pair performed the track together on Saturday Night Live and the American Music Awards, performing a raunchy dance routine.
Lady Gaga at the TCL Chinese Theatre, 07-01-2018. Image: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
"Post-traumatic"
"I think it's clear how explicitly twisted my thinking was at the time," Gaga said
"If I could go back and have a talk with my younger self I'd tell her to go through the therapy I have since then, so that I could understand the confused post-traumatic state that I was in."
An official video for the song, shot by Terry Richardson, was made but never released.
Clips posted on unofficial sites show Lady Gaga under only a sheet on an operating table, where she has a sexually suggestive conversation with "Doctor" R Kelly before appearing to go under anaesthetic.
Allegations
On Tuesday, Illinois prosecutor Kim Foxx made a plea for any survivors of the alleged abuse to come forward.
"There's nothing that can be done to investigate these allegations without the cooperation of both victims and witnesses," she said.
Ms Foxx said she was "sickened" by the allegations in the documentary, which detailed allegations that have followed Kelly through his career and included interviews with many women.
In 2008 a jury acquitted the singer of 14 counts of child pornography.
Prosecutors argued a video depicted sex acts between him and a 13-year-old girl, but both Kelly and his alleged victim denied it was them in the film.
