Journalist and Former MSNBC Host Touré Accused of Sexual Harassment By Former Coworker

The Surviving R. Kelly docuseries on Lifetime brought out some terrifying revelations about the R&B singer who has thus far avoided facing any consequences for his actions. In as much as we have learned a lot about Kelly and his abusive behavior, we have also been made aware of the reported behavior of some of the men who spoke out against him in the documentary.

One such person is music journalist and former MSNBC host Touré Neblett. Neblett, who works professionally under the mononym Touré, appeared in the documentary speaking out about Kelly and the 2008 interview he conducted with the singer for BET.

The interview has remained notable because when Touré asked Kelly if he was into teenage girls, Kelly infamously responded “When you say teenage, how old are we talking.”

After the documentary aired last week, Touré made an appearance on The Clubhouse With Mouse Jones podcast along with fellow journalist Jamilah Lemieux to once again discuss Kelly.

The show posted an advertisement for the appearance on its Instagram account, and in the comments, a young woman named “Dani” alleged that Touré had sexually harassed her in the past.

Dani, a makeup artist who goes by the name danimakeup on Instagram, explained that she worked with Touré every Monday on a show during 2017. She said he could not stop asking her lewd and inappropriate questions including if she would “do anal,” how she looked naked, what it would be like to “fuck” her and what his “cum” would look like on her face.

“Every Monday I used to work with him on a show in 2017 and 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, what his cum would look like on my face....,” she wrote. “I had to have the crew stay in the room [with] me while I got him ready.... And when I left I called HR.... He got fired instantly. He wrote me a huge apology for doing that in my DMs. Still have it. He did a ‘20/20’ shoot in 2018, and I was there, and he walked out. Told the producer that he was ‘embarrassed [because] he was inappropriate with a staff member.’ He really needs to take a seat.”

Dani further explained that things got so bad, she had to ask the crew to stay in the room with her whenever she worked with him. When she quit, she went to HR with her concerns, and Touré was reportedly fired “instantly” according to her account.

She went on to say that after she left, she had a male makeup artist put in to replace her. She said the male makeup artist later messaged her and told her that Touré was hitting on him as well.

The comments have since been deleted from The Clubhouse With Mouse Jones Instagram post.

Dani told Essence in an exclusive interview that she received an apology from Touré via a DM on Instagram in 2017, and she provided screenshots of the apology, Touré’s rep told Essence that he left Time, Inc of his own accord after his contract was up.

“Look, I’ve learned a lot watching this happen,” he wrote in a private message to Dani. “The way I teased you is no longer funny to me.”

Touré also responded to Essence via his rep and said: “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.”

That’s not really a good excuse when you are out here making yourself an authority on other abusers such as R. Kelly and Harvey Weinstein, but OK, sir.

Touré was scheduled to do an interview with Terry Crews on Thursday, but the actor sent out a tweet the same day indicating the interview had been canceled.

Man. We can’t trust nobody, can we?