First of all, he’s sexy. O. J. Simpson is sexy. He has a full head of hair and he has the smoothest, most beautiful skin. And his body. You know, the man is older now and it’s not to die for. But you can see what it used to look like and you can see it hasn’t changed much. He has a nice physique. He’s big and charming, with beautiful teeth and a nice smile. He came in, we talked about his relationships with white women. We talked about his image. We even talked about his relationships with black women:
WW: When’s the last time you had sex with a black woman, O.J.?
OJ: Well, a dark woman, she wasn’t quite black ’cause she was Cuban, uh, it’s none of your business, but that’s the last one I’ve been with.
WW: But that’s not a black woman, that was a Cuban woman.
OJ: Well, I like Cuban women.
WW: I’m talking about black like me.
OJ: Two years ago.
WW: Look at that. And in the meantime you’ve done a lot of boning between, uh, two years ago and now. And you skipped over the sisters.
OJ: Well, naw, naw, naw. I’ve done a lot of boning with two women. No more than two women. In that specific length of time.
WW: Listen, O.J.—
OJ: And I’m single.
WW: I know, but you have—
OJ: I can date who I wanna date.
WW: You have—
OJ: But I don’t, it’s . . . You’re buying into this.
WW: No, well, O.J.—
OJ: You’re buying into media. Everybody that knows me don’t buy into it. The people that see me out don’t buy into it. But you’re somewhat, for some reason you’re buying into the white media.
WW: O. J., have you ever dated women as dark as your charcoal pants?
OJ: In high school.
WW: In high school?
OJ: Now, I’ve dated numerous women that’s about your color.
WW: And, look, I’m a nice little, as a matter of fact, we’re the same complexion. I may be a little lighter than you and I am a real—
OJ: Is something wrong with us?
WW: I’m black as tar to you.
OJ: Nah, no, you’re not. I told, I just told you I’ve dated . . . the girl that I dated, the last girl that we talked about I was with—
WW: Mm-hmm.
OJ: —was darker than you.
WW: But I bet you she had hair like [TLC’s] Chili or [former MTV host] Ananda Lewis. Didn’t she?
OJ: Thank God, she did!
WW: See, look at that. “Thank God, she did!”?
OJ: I like that hair. What’s wrong with that? I gotta make excuses for what I like?
WW: No.
OJ: (Chuckles.) I like rocky road ice cream.
WW: You don’t have to make any . . . That’s one thing about this show—
OJ: But I still have vanilla ice cream from time to time.
WW: So, if a woman, um, so we’ll go past that. You’ve already—
OJ: Yeah, just leave the women.
WW: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause the women right now are very, very mad. The women with—
OJ: I disagree with you—
WW: —our perms and our weaves and our—
OJ: —everywhere I go women are terrific. Wherever I go the women are terrific.
WW: The white women.
OJ: No, the black women. Wherever I go, women are terrific. Sisters have been the most supportive group of people to me than anybody in this country. I get more letters from them than anybody.
WW: (Sighs.)
OJ: Even kids who are sports fans.
WW: O. J.
OJ: Yes.
WW: I don’t believe that, but we’ll move on.
O.J.: Okay.
O. J. was very candid in his responses and he obviously wasn’t trying to be politically correct. We got along very well. We drank champagne. He left.
And when he did leave, I thought, “Damn him! He’s handsome. He’s charming! He’s a murderer.”
I thought he was a murderer before I interviewed him. I thought he was a murderer during our interview. And I still think he’s a murderer. And he is still one of the most controversial figures of our time.
Michael Jackson is another. Actually, his scandals, both the 1993 child molestation allegations and the more recent one from 2003 (and the others that seem to be coming out the woodwork), might just define the legacy of Michael Jackson. And what a shame that would be. He has done so much for the world of music and is perhaps one of the most talented people ever to live, but he will be forever known as a man who is inappropriate with young boys—whether he is acquitted of the latest charges or not.
Michael Jackson, in my opinion, is guilty of something. I don’t know what exactly, but he did something—even if it was only displaying very, very bad judgment. And it’s just as much the fault of his father, Joe Jackson, for taking away his childhood as it is Michael’s fault for being a grown man who can’t seem to tear himself away from young boys.
And while it is easy to point a finger at Joe Jackson and the abuse he allegedly gave to Michael and whatever psychological problems he may have caused, I believe that at forty-five years old you are supposed to have gotten past whatever burdens your parents may have put on your shoulders. And if you haven’t completely gotten over the things your parents did, at forty-five you should at least be able to manage those issues in an adult realm.
Don’t get me wrong, parents can do stuff that will mess you up, that you will carry with you into adulthood. But at some point you still have to accept responsibility for the things you do, regardless of the root problem.
When I look at Michael Jackson, I’m not judging him based on some of the craziness he displays. And I believe people are looking at the wrong things when they look at his relationship with a young Emmanuel Lewis or a young Macaulay Culkin. Those weren’t the smoking guns, so to speak. I don’t think Michael would be guilty of anything with those kids—they’re too high profile. But with the twelve-year-old boy dying from cancer? This is the boy who was featured in that Martin Bashir special with Michael Jackson—the same boy who claimed that Michael saved his life and helped him to overcome his cancer. Wasn’t he supposed to die from that cancer? No victim, no witness. Hmm.
Again, this is about what I believe to be the biggest problem in our society—child molestation. Even if Michael Jackson did nothing sexual with that twelve-year-old boy, was it appropriate to have that child sleep over so many times? Perhaps he created an environment where that child crossed the line in his mind, not thinking that there was a line. And that to me is a crime. Adults need to make boundaries with children and make those boundaries very clear. Children must know their place and adults must make that place very secure and clear for them.
I don’t know what happened in Michael’s childhood, but I do know one thing about abuse—if it isn’t dealt with or corrected, the cycle is never broken.
When the latest Michael Jackson scandal broke in 2003, I had the opportunity to actually talk with Michael’s mother and father, Katherine and Joseph, on the radio. I have Steve Manning, celebrity publicist, to thank for that interview. Steve is very close to the Jackson family. He is so close that he spends Thanksgiving at the Jackson compound.
Through Steve, I was even invited to the Jacksons’ to celebrate Joe’s birthday in August of 2003. I didn’t go because I didn’t want to taint what I do—which, I have said, is not for the celebrities or to be in with them, but for the people. But we did talk on the air about the party I missed, and Katherine even asked me where I’d been. When my previous book, Wendy’s Got the Heat, came out, Katherine and Jermaine Jackson requested a copy, which I signed and sent to them. I like the Jackson clan. But I have to call it like I see it. My liking for them cannot hold me back from saying what I feel about Michael and this situation. And I am disgusted by it.
I have no idea how this particular case is going to turn out, but I pray that if Michael once again walks, he walks himself somewhere to get some help, becaus
e he has some serious problems.
Unfortunately, Michael Jackson is not alone. The sex scandals of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, coming from the one place we should never expect such scandals, helped shake many people’s very faith. I’m talking about the scandal with Jim Bakker and the PTL Club, the sex scandal with Jimmy Swaggart, and the sex scandals that are still rocking the Catholic Church. Perhaps these scandals have done more damage than the allegations about Michael Jackson ever could, because as a result of these scandals people have turned away from their religion. I see a lot of people seeking answers and searching in different places, from studying the kabbalah to joining the Church of Scientology. The public can no longer depend on the people and the institutions that should be above such behavior. With celebrities we can sometimes expect the worst, but from the church? Wow!
Whitney Houston’s admission of drug use in 2003 could potentially be a scandal for the time capsule. But I am hoping it doesn’t happen. I am hoping she is in a passing phase—that she will clean herself up and become once again one of the reigning queens of our time. But if she does do a Billie Holiday, which she seems unfortunately headed toward, then hers will truly be a scandal for the ages. But we have to wait and see.
In 2003, squeaky-clean NBA star Kobe Bryant shocked the sports world with his arrest for rape. Kobe Bryant—the fresh-faced, near-perfect, endorser’s dream—arrested for rape. Surprised? Not me.
When I first heard about the Kobe Bryant scandal, I said immediately that he’s probably guilty. Guilty of “taking it.” Rape is such a harsh word, and I’m not sure that I would use the word for what I believe Kobe Bryant did. I think it’s unfair to use the word rape about a woman who willingly went to a hotel room and who pretty much knew the score and through her own damn naïveté got tripped up into something she didn’t want. I know because this happened to me.
When I think of rape I think of the woman in the alley whose clothes are ripped, whose face has been scarred, who has been brutalized. I don’t like to use the word rape for what happened to the girl in the Kobe Bryant situation. I will call it nonconsensual sex. According to published reports, she agreed to some form of sex with him but didn’t consent when he wanted to do something else with her. I believe she said no. And I also believe that when she said no, he took it. He should not have taken it. But she should not have put herself in that situation. And then there is the question about whether it was all a setup in the first place.
Men like Kobe Bryant are very susceptible to having things like this happen to them. Men who are wealthy, famous, star athletes, actors, wealthy businessmen, can all get got like this. It can happen to any man with money and a willing participant—a girl who is after a few dollars or some attention.
But what happened to Kobe Bryant is one hundred percent his fault. Ultimately, he’s a married man and he got his just deserts because he was cheating on his wife. Cheating on his wife, without a condom, no less! Damn him! And now he not only has to deal with a trial and potential jail time, but also his wife, Vanessa, and her attitude toward him for cheating in such a disgustingly up-high way. I mean, there was nothing down-low or discreet about what Kobe did. And his wife, like so many other women in that position, also has got to learn about being an NBA player’s wife and that this was the only time he got caught.
But even though the media—myself included—are guilty of making this a huge, huge story, Kobe Bryant’s case is all too common. And I wonder how history will treat the Kobe Bryant scandal or the scandal involving former NBA player Jayson Williams, who killed a limo driver in his home, or the scandal of rocker Phil Spector, also accused of murder in 2003, or Robert Blake, who was accused of an O. J.-style killing of his wife. Will we even care? Will we be so bombarded with other scandals that we won’t even remember these?
There is one scandal that I know I will never forget—the R. Kelly sex scandal. Unlike the rest, this one feels personal, because before the scandal R. Kelly was one of my favorite entertainers.
In the middle of the week I received an afternoon call. I had been back in New York perhaps a month at WBLS-FM and the Experience was reestablishing itself as the place to go if you wanted to know what was happening in the world—as far as celebrities are concerned. We were bringing the heat from the start.
The caller said that he had something that I had to see. He would meet me downstairs after the show. I got downstairs to see a black limousine and the person inside was a record-label executive—a high appointed record-label executive. If I mentioned his name, you would know who he is.
In the limo was another man, who had traveled all the way from Chicago to deliver the goods. My husband and manager, Kevin, was there as well. The four of us huddled around a monitor in back of the limo as the executive popped in a VHS tape. What I saw to this day makes my stomach turn. I watched in utter disgust. But I also watched very carefully, taking in every detail, because I knew in my gut that I would never see this tape again—not because I wouldn’t have access, but because what I saw was so repulsive that I knew I could not watch it a second time.
Everything had to register, because I knew I was going to get on the air the next day and tell exactly what I saw. And what I saw was a man who looked just like R. Kelly performing sex acts with females who looked just like little girls.
It appeared to be somewhere in R. Kelly’s house. There were R. Kelly platinum plaques on the wall. I even saw an Aaliyah plaque on a wall in the background. The man who looked like R. Kelly was very aware of the camera. There were three sex sessions on this video with three different young ladies.
In the first session, the girl looked about sixteen years old. She could have been as old as twenty, because I admit that sometimes young girls look older and some older women look very young. The man was having sex with her in a chair. The second session was blurry. It was difficult to make out the girl’s features, but it was clear that it was the same man and it was clear that the young lady was very young. But it was the last session that blew me away.
That is the one that anyone who has seen this tape will remember in vivid detail. There was a young lady—a very young lady—who looked to be between thirteen and fifteen years old. She had a little girl’s body, not fully developed, barely any hair growing in certain areas.
The man was apparently sitting on a couch, holding the camera as the young lady danced—it was a hootchie, nasty, strip-club dance. Midway through the dance she spread her legs like an Alvin Ailey dancer and urinated. The man holding the camera directed her to do it. He was directing her the whole time, saying things like “Turn around now and touch yourself.” It was very, very disgusting and disturbing.
The man with the camera, who looked like R. Kelly, then stepped into the frame and had the young lady spread out on the couch. He stood over her and urinated on her chest and watched as it ran down her body. I had seen enough. There was more on this tape, much more.
The record executive had gotten it from a man from Chicago, who happened to be someone in R. Kelly’s camp. He was disgusted by what was happening and felt that the record executive could somehow put a stop to it. The record executive did one of the first things he thought of—brought the tape to me. He knew that I could put light on this tape the way no one else could. And I did. I broke the R. Kelly story on the air the next day.
It was emotional for me to tell this story on the air. Comedian/actor Bill Bellamy was my guest in the studio. He was there to promote his new series, Fast Lane, which was debuting on Fox (it has since been canceled). Bill is from New Jersey and we go way back—we are from the same generation and kind of started in the business together. Bill was there as I was telling this story, and at one point I became very emotional as I was describing what I had seen.
Yes, it was disgusting. But I was thinking about these young girls in the video. Our problem isn’t the war on drugs and all of that—which is important—but the sexualization of our children is what is killing us as a society. Older men preying on th
e young boys and girls is a huge problem that no one talks about. This R. Kelly scandal just really hit home with how prevalent this is, and our community is just so forgiving.
I started to cry on the air. The tears that I was shedding were for the girls this is happening to—these girls whom I will defend to the end because they simply know no better. I was also crying because I knew that in spite of what I was saying on the air and in spite of what I had seen in that video, R. Kelly’s fans would still buy his records, radio stations would still play his music, and he would still win awards.
At the 2003 BET Awards, R. Kelly not only performed but he won the Best Male R & B award. He was also nominated for a Soul Train Music Award and a Grammy in 2004! His album Chocolate Factory, released in March of 2003, sold more than 532,000 copies its first week, and by May of that year it had sold more than two million copies. In June of 2003, R. Kelly made the top of the R & B/Hip-Hop Single Sales Chart with his single “Snake.” The next month the single crossed over onto the Top 40 list. In August of 2003, his next album, R, went eight times platinum—that’s eight million copies sold. And the video for the song “Ignition” was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award. In September, R. Kelly was nominated for two American Music Awards. He was even nominated for a 2004 NAACP Image Award. An image award! Who says that crime doesn’t pay?
I get a lot of criticism for telling people’s business. I get a lot of flak for “gossiping” about celebrities on my show. Well, I will say this: If I don’t tell it, who will? And I do what I do because I am tired of seeing these people—these celebrities who have the attention and the ear and eye of so many young people in our society—get away with the things they get away with.
Perhaps people will still buy their records, but maybe talking about them gives people a chance to examine a little more closely these people they have put on a pedestal.
By the way, at the time of this book’s publication, R. Kelly was standing trial on charges of child pornography. He had been indicted on twenty-one counts of child pornography stemming from the sex on video, including the one that I saw with the girl who turned out to be thirteen years old.
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