(2017-07-31) R Kelly Cult Story Almost Never Ran Thank Hulk Hogan For That

That R. Kelly ‘cult’ story almost never ran. Thank Hulk Hogan for that.

After Jim DeRogatis, the veteran Chicago rock critic, reported for months on a stunning story about R&B singer R. Kelly and the young women said to be under his psychological and sexual control, it came time to get it published. Three separate media organizations were interested but got cold feet at the last minute

Gawker came up in a lot of those conversations,” DeRogatis said, referring to the snarky and risk-taking website that was put out of business last summer after a lawsuit brought by Terry Bollea, also known as Hulk Hogan

Ultimately, DeRogatis turned to a fourth outlet, BuzzFeed, which published the jaw-dropping story this month

there’s a kind of story that never even surfaces anymore: quintessential Gawker pieces — for example on the most horrible bosses in New York or Walmart workers who hate their jobs. These are “everybody talks about it but nobody publishes it” stories, he said