R. Kelly’s ex-wife believes he or someone close to him was behind gun threat at Lifetime screening

Drea Kelly is sure that her ex-husband, R. Kelly or someone connected to him is responsible for the gun threat that interrupted a Lifetime Screening of the docuseries, "Surviving R. Kelly." She also opens up on the effect the incident had on her and other survivors of the singer’s alleged sexual misconduct.

On Tuesday, December 4, about 100 people gathered at NeueHouse Madison Square for a preview screening of Lifetime’s upcoming documentary about R. Kelly and his alleged sexual misdemeanors.

Seven of those people were female survivors who told their stories in the production. Twenty minutes into the viewing, however, the organizers got an anonymous call with a threat that if they continued showing the documentary, someone with a gun in the theater would start shooting.

Everyone was evacuated, and the screening came to an abrupt end, but Drea, the embattled singer’s former wife and a “survivor” told Rolling Stone that she knew the source of the threat.

“The first thing that came to my mind -- and I can’t speak for anyone else -- was that [R. Kelly] had this shut down,” said Drea. “I believe it was somebody connected to him. This was an outside inside-job to me; someone on the outside does not want what’s going on on the inside to be completed. Whoever it came from, they know that this is not a good thing because there’s power in numbers.”

Drea, who has been very vocal about the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse she suffered in the hands of the R&B icon, declared that the gun threat only helped them become aware of what the force they’re up against.

She added:

“What people don’t understand is that we are a fire that is burning and it’s never going to go out. They thought they were putting us out; they just put gasoline on a fire and now we’re just gonna burn longer and stronger. You actually helped us when it was meant to harm us [because] this did nothing but unite us even more.”

Besides Drea and other alleged sexual assault survivors like Lisa Van Allen and Kitti Jones, #MeToo founder, Tarana Burke, was also at the screening.

“Surviving R. Kelly,” a six-part series investigating the singer’s numerous allegations of sexual, mental and physical abuse, is slated to premiere on Lifetime on January 3 and will be aired throughout three nights.