Hello. I was reading The St. Louis American this week, when I came across the Hot Sheet article, “Ghostface Killah shares Aaliyah and Raekwon allegedly had a fling.” The first sentence of this article reads:
“R. Kelly and Dame Dash aren’t the only men in music who were once the apple of the late Aaliyah’s eyes.”
R. Kelly is a convicted pedophile and sex trafficker. He allegedly began sexually abusing Aaliyah when she was just 13, 14 years old, and he initiated a child marriage to her. Reportedly, “Aaliyah told her family that she never wanted to see Kelly again, and they set about making sure she would never have to.”
As a survivor of sexual assault and harassment, I was devastated to see the St. Louis American, my favorite newspaper, treat sexual abuse like this. This is not protecting Black women, girls, or survivors. Unless you have experienced it, you cannot imagine how painful and traumatic sexual assault and harassment are, and poor Aaliyah was just a child. Then years after her death for the media to continue treating her abuse as charming gossip fodder is further cruelty to both her and survivors.
Please amend the story, release an apology, and do better in the future.
Geneva Lee
Apology
The St. Louis American would like to apologize for the oversight in publishing a reference to R. Kelly as “the apple of the late Aaliyah’s [eye]” in the Dec. 23-29 Hot Sheet piece, “Ghostface Killah shares Aaliyah and Raekwon allegedly had a fling.” R. Kelly is a convicted sex offender and we agree it is egregious to sanitize any portrayal of his abusive relationship with Aaliyah, as well as slanderous of her memory. We’re remorseful for the offense and pain this error caused any of our readers.
Dear Sirs,As a reader of your newspaper I am very disappointed that I have yet to read anything in your paper regarding St.louis Hall of Fame Disc Jockey Doug Eason. Please correct me if I missed it.