As Lifetime Network’s controversial docu-series Surviving R Kelly airs, Aaliyah’s mother is speaking out to denounce claims made by a backup singer.
According to Complex Magazine, Diane Haughton says they were always on tour with Aaliah and what Jovante Cunningham is false.
“The woman and so-called backup singer that describes seeing, meeting or ever breathing the same air as my daughter, Aaliyah, is lying and is a liar,” Haughton wrote in a public statement.
During episode one Cunningham says she saw Kelly having sex with Aaliyah in the backroom of a tour bus they all shared.
“We were out on the road with Aaliyah,” she explained in the episode. “On a tour bus, there really aren’t many confined spaces. When you get on the bus there are bunks and so these bunks have little curtains you can pull at night if you don’t want anybody to see you sleeping. So it just so happened we were all laying in our bunks and the curtains are open, everybody’s communicating, laughing. When the [room] door flew open on the bus. Robert was having sex with Aaliyah.”
Missing from her remarks are denials that Aaliyah married Kelly with forged documents stating she was 18 years old when she was in fact 15 years old.
Surviving R Kelly is a 6-part series. Kelly and his attorney have threatened to file suit against the network for airing the program.
To see Haughton’s full statement, flip the page.
