Spotify has made the decision to stop promoting R. Kelly’s music in the bid to hold him accountable for decades of accusations of sexual misconduct.
Spotify has not removed R. Kelly’s content from the platform however they have taken measures to remove his music from official playlists and those generated by algorithms.
The decision comes after the release of Spotify’s new Hate Content and Hateful Conduct Public Policy.
The new policy statement claims the importance of promoting content that better reflects the company’s values.
“While we don’t believe in censoring content because of an artist’s or creator’s behaviors, we want our editorial decisions – what we choose to program – to reflect our values.”
“We’ve also thought long and hard about how to handle content that is not hate content itself, but is principally made by artists or other creators who have demonstrated hateful conduct personally.” The statement read.
“In some circumstances, when an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful (for example, violence against children and sexual violence), it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator.”
In addition to the new policy, the decision to remove R. Kelly comes after grassroot #MuteRKelly campaign was co-signed by Time’s Up organisation, the organisation responsible for the #MeToo movement.
The #MuteRKelly movement has picked up momentum in recent weeks, addressing reasons to why the artists may have avoided scrutiny for so long. The campaign suggests that while allegations have been made against the artist for decades, many of the victims were young girls and black women.
Rapper XXXTenaction has also been targeted by the new Spotify policy after charges in Florida that include aggravated battery of a pregnant woman and witness tampering.
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