Touré, a music journalist who appeared on Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” docuseries to discuss the long history of abuse allegations against the R&B singer, is now embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal of his own.
In the swirl of publicity surrounding the docuseries, which premiered last week, a woman came forward alleging Touré sexually harassed her when they worked together in 2017. He swiftly apologized on Thursday.
Touré ― whose full name is Touré Neblett ― appeared on a recent episode of the podcast “The Clubhouse with Mouse Jones” to talk about his contributions to the R. Kelly docuseries and to disavow the musician. Mouse Jones promoted the show on Instagram, and in that post, a makeup artist who goes by Dani accused Touré of sexually harassing her when she worked with him on a Time Inc. show, Essence reported.
“He couldn’t stop asking me to do anal, how I looked naked, if I had sex over the weekend, what it would be like to fuck me ...” Dani wrote in the comments. “I had to have the crew stay in the room w me while I got him ready.”
She said she notified human resources at the time, and Touré was “fired instantly.”
Touré, in a statement to Essence through a representative, called his behavior “edgy, crass banter.”
“On the show, our team, including myself, engaged in edgy, crass banter, that at the time I did not think was offensive for our tight-knit group. I am sorry for my language and for making her feel uncomfortable in any way. As a lead on the show, I should have refrained from this behavior. I have learned and grown from this experience.”
He also reportedly apologized directly to Dani on Instagram, writing, “The way I teased you is no longer funny to me.”
In response to the flap, actor Terry Crews announced that he wouldn’t appear for a live taping of Touré’s self-titled podcast and show, which had been set for a shoot in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday.
Crews, a victim of sexual assault himself, simply wrote “CANCELLED” on Twitter in reference to his planned appearance with Touré.