R. Kelly has broken his social media silence to send a message to his eldest daughter on her 21st birthday.
The 52-year-old has been inactive on social media since 1 January 19, while he fights 10 felony counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
The disgraced I Believe I Can Fly hitmaker took to Twitter on Wednesday (20Mar19), however, to share a birthday message for his daughter Joann.
In the clip, captioned “Family for life,” Kelly filmed himself singing Happy Birthday, before taking a moment to express his love for her.
“Happy birthday baby, daddy loves you,” he said while speaking into the camera. “I love you, no matter what, I love you so much. Bye, happy birthday.”
Joann, who performs as a singer under the stage name Buku Abi, had been quiet on the controversy surrounding her father until earlier this year, when she made a lengthy statement on Instagram calling the singer a “monster.”
“To the people that feel I should be speaking up/against everything that is going on right now, I just want you all to understand that devastated in an understatement for all that I feel currently,” she wrote. “I pray for all the families and women who have been affected by my father’s actions. Trust, I have been deeply affected by all of this.
“I do not have a relationship with my father, nor do I speak on him or on his behalf.”
Kelly is due back in court to face the allegations of sexual abuse against him on Friday.