R. Kelly Didn’t Watch The Aaliyah Biopic

One of the many issues plaguing Lifetime's terrible, exploitative 2014 Aaliyah biopic, Aaliyah: the Princess of R&B, was the TV movie's treatment of the late R&B singer's relationship with one-time mentor and Age Ain't Nothing But a Number producer R. Kelly. As has been previously documented, the two married when Aaliyah was 15 and Kelly was 27, and the subsequent annulment was allegedly more complicated than the film's simplistic, star-crossed treatment of the relationship. Quite a few people had issues with Kelly's portrayal in the biopic—including, as it turns out, Kelly himself (although not really for the reasons outlined above).

"Lots of people didn't like the Aaliyah biopic," Atlanta-based radio host Big Tigger posited to R. Kelly on his V-103 show near the end of last week. "How did you feel about it?" R. Kelly replies with a slight level of discomfort—"I didn't know you were gonna ask me that"—but otherwise responds in good spirits, claiming that he didn't watch the biopic. "Once they said they was making a movie and somebody was gonna be playing me—can't nobody play me, homie. You got to know me to play me. You don't know me, you can't play me, it's impossible. So why should I watch something that's not real?" Fair enough, I guess. Watch the interview clip above, and read FADER's review of the Aaliyah biopic here.

Lead photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images