Spotify Removes R. Kelly From Its Playlists After Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Music by the rapper and singer XXXTentacion, who now faces a multiple domestic abuse charges, including aggravated battery of a pregnant woman and domestic battery by strangulation, will also be removed from Spotify playlists.

On Thursday, the music app mentioned it will not promote the I Consider I Can Fly singer's songs in its editorial or algorithmic playlists.

"We are removing R. Kelly's music from all Spotify owned and operated playlists and algorithmic recommendations such as Discover Weekly", a Spotify spokesperson told FOX Business in an emailed statement.

The policy goes on to outline "hate conduct" as well, claiming that while the streaming service doesn't censor art based on an artist's behaviour, particularly harmful behaviour may affect how Spotify works with or supports certain artists. While Kelly has denied the allegations and was acquitted in 2008 of child pornography charges, recent attention and the #MuteRKelly campaign has put the singer, songwriter and producer under more scrutiny. Time's Up, an organization formed in the wake of Harvey Weinstein's October outing in order to protect women's safety in the workplace with legal safeguards, turned its powerful focus on R. Kelly on April 30.

Kelly refused The Post's multiple requests for comment for that story.

R Kelly's removal comes under the new "Hate Content & Hateful Conduct" policy, which is created to "be consistent with our distinct roles in music and media".

Recently, R. Kelly responded to the campaign and said, "R. Kelly supports the pro-women goals of the Time's Up movement". "With that said, we demand appropriate investigations and inquiries into the allegations of R. Kelly's abuse made by women of color and their families for over two decades now". An internal committee at Spotify spearheaded by Jonathan Prince, vice president of content and marketplace policy, will decide on a case-by-case basis whether to stop promoting an artist, the New York Times reports. "So I get they don't wanna stand next to what comes with that but you don't get any kudos either".

R. Kelly's music will still be available on Spotify. But that opens a myriad of complexities ahead, given the shady "values" of hundreds of successful artists - past and present. Inclusion in key playlists like Rap Caviar and Discover Weekly can literally make or break a song, as was the case with Donald Glover's "Redbone" a year ago.

Content monitoring: We are continuing to develop and implement content monitoring technology which identifies content on our service that has been flagged as hate content on specific global registers.