The 'Empire' actress receives backlash after comparing people's reactions to R. Kelly's and Weinstein's scandals.

• Jan 23, 2019

AceShowbiz - Taraji P. Henson clarifies her stance on R. Kelly's scandal after she was under fire for her controversial Instagram post. The Academy Award-nominated actress appeared to defend the "I Believe I Can Fly" singer when she compared people's reactions to R. Kelly's and Harvey Weinstein's scandals.

On Instagram Stories, the "What Men Want" star pointed out the search results for the #MuteRKelly hashtag with #MuteWeinstein or #MuteHarveyWeinstein hashtags. She seemingly wondered why the #MuteRKelly hashtag on Instagram had more than 30,000 posts associated with it, a lot more than #MuteHarvey and #MuteHarveyWeinstein which had less than 20 posts. "HMMMMM," she wrote on one of the posts.

I love me some Taraji but GIIIIIIRRRRRLLLLLLAAAAAAAA. Make it make sense. pic.twitter.com/qBtYuwpio0

— sie (@NOPussBoys_) January 22, 2019

Fellow Instagram users were baffled by Taraji's posts, which seemingly implied that R. Kelly was being treated unfairly amid the sexual abuse allegations against him. "What is Taraji doing.gif?" one shocked fan asked.

Someone else wrote on Twitter, "Somebody go take Taraji phone." Journalist Ernst Owens suggested that somebody "tap Taraji on the shoulder and tell her now isn't the time to throw her career in the drain for defending a trash can named R. Kelly."

Another disappointed fan reacted, "Goddamnit not Taraji as well! Wtf lady, why?! Why are they acting like #metoo didn't cause Harvey Weinstein didn't lose his livelihood? He's also going to trial. R. Kelly's been at it for 25+ years & only JUST got dropped by Sony...wtf? With a heavy heart, I cancel my Taraji."

"Surviving R. Kelly" executive producer Dream Hampton also weighed in, "Plus, you don't really care about Weinstein, you just want silence around R. Kelly. Taraji, like me, is from the generation whose job it was to deal with R. Kelly 20 years ago. We didn't and countless girls were harmed because of our inaction. So I made #SurvivingRKellly."

Another tried to explain, "Weinstein didn't need to be muted because he is currently facing charges faster than R. Kelly is right now!" Some others argued that the "mute" hashtag referred to not listening to R. Kelly's music anymore, and wasn't meant for Harvey because he was a movie producer who cannot be muted.

Noticing people's reactions, Taraji quickly deleted her controversial Instagram posts and wrote on Twitter, "LET ME BE CLEAR R. KELLY IS GUILTY AND WRONG AND SHOULD BE MUTED PERIOD!!!!!"

LET ME BE CLEAR R. KELLY IS GUILTY AND WRONG AND SHOULD BE MUTED PERIOD!!!!! 💋💋💋

— Taraji P. Henson (@TherealTaraji) January 22, 2019

R. Kelly is currently under investigation for sexual abuse and misconduct allegations which are highlighted on Lifetime's docuseries "Surviving R. Kelly". He has been dropped by Sony Music following protest to boycott the singer and his music.