The premiere of the docu-series, "Surviving R. Kelly," which is to reveal the story of the singer R. Kelly's alleged sexual abuses, was forced to shut down after threatened by an anonymous caller on December 4.
According to the CNN, 20 to 30 minutes after the screening, an executive from Lifetime, the producing company producing the film, came in with security personnel. They told the attendees they had been threatened.
"Several anonymous threats were called in," Lifetime told the BBC.
As a New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson noted, the anonymous caller threatened that someone inside will open gunfire if the screening was not stopped.
Singer R. Kelly accepts the Stevie Wonder Award onstage at the 20th Annual Soul Train Music Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California, March 4, 2006. /VCG Photo
NeueHouse Madison Square, who was responsible for the theater management, evacuated the site after that. "No shots were fired. No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing," NYPD told the BBC.
As a spokesperson for NeueHouse Madison Square noted, the threat was not credible. "We followed appropriate safety protocols in collaboration with the NYPD and elected to postpone the event," the spokesperson said. "We stand by the creative women bringing these heroic stories to light."
Singer R. Kelly is pictured in this celebrity social media photo. /VCG Photo
The docu-series consists of six episodes, in which the victims of the accused R. Kelly will go in front of the camera and share their stories of the physical, mental, and sexual abuse they experienced by the singer.
The singer has long been accused by a number of women of sexual abuse, pedophilia, making child pornography and other violence acts towards women and young girls – covering more than 20 years. Kelly denies all allegations and has not been convicted by a court yet.
"I would say that I don't believe in happenstance. I don't believe that anything is a coincidence. I do believe that in some shape, form or fashion it is connected to him. Now, whether he orchestrated it or not, that I cannot say. But I just do not believe in coincidences," Drea, R. Kelly's ex-wife told Variety. "Of all the theaters, of all the nights, of all the premiers, it happened with us."
(Top Photo: Singer R. Kelly poses with his R&B Artist of the Year award he won at the Billboard Music Awards show at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. /VCG Photo)