Taraji denies taking R. Kelly’s side after Weinstein comparison

Los Angeles, Jan 23 (IANS) Actress Taraji P. Henson has clarified her stance on singer R. Kelly's scandal after she came under fire for her controversial post on social media.

The Academy Award-nominated actress appeared to defend the "I Believe I Can Fly" singer when she compared people's reactions to Kelly's and disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein's scandals.

On Instagram stories, she pointed out the search results for the #MuteRKelly hashtag with #MuteWeinstein or #MuteHarveyWeinstein hashtags, reports aceshowbiz.com.

She seemingly wondered why the #MuteRKelly hashtag on Instagram had more than 30,000 posts associated with it, a lot more than #MuteHarvey and #MuteHarveyWeinstein which had less than 20 posts.

"Hmm," she wrote on one of the posts.

Fellow Instagram users were baffled by Henson's posts, which seemingly implied that Kelly was being treated unfairly amid the sexual abuse allegations against him.

"What is Taraji doing?" one fan asked.

Someone else wrote on Twitter: "Somebody go take Taraji phone."

Another disappointed fan reacted: "Goddamnit not Taraji as well! Wtf lady, why?! Why are they acting like #metoo didn't cause Harvey Weinstein didn't lose his livelihood? He's also going to trial. R. Kelly's been at it for 25+ years and only just got dropped by Sony...wtf? With a heavy heart, I cancel my Taraji."

Noticing people's reactions, she quickly deleted her controversial Instagram posts and wrote on Twitter: "Let me be clear R. Kelly is guilty and wrong and should be muted period!

R. Kelly is currently under investigation for sexual abuse and misconduct allegations which are highlighted on Lifetime's docu-series "Surviving R. Kelly". He has been dropped by a music label following protest to boycott the singer and his music.