Dream Hampton, executive producer of 'Surviving R. Kelly,' reacts to singer's arrest: 'We've been waiting for this moment for many, many years'
Dream Hampton executive produced the Lifetime series earlier this year.
Dream Hampton, one of the executive producers of the Lifetime docuseries "Surviving R. Kelly," is not ready to take a victory lap over the arrest of the R&B star, but she does hope he begins to take responsibility for "the harm that he has caused."
"We've been waiting for this moment for many, many years," Hampton said in an interview that aired Saturday on "Good Morning America." "We've been waiting for him to acknowledge the harm that he has caused. He's never done that. He's only ever denied, obfuscated and derailed. And placed blame with others."
The Chicago native was indicted Friday on 10 counts of felony criminal sexual abuse involving four alleged victims, according to the Cook County Prosecutor's Office. Three of the four victims were younger than 17 at the time of the alleged incidents.
Kelly has denied all accusations of sexual assault and has said he never knowingly had sex with an underage girl.
Hampton said she hopes for "real justice" this time. Kelly was previously charged with possession of child pornography in 2003. He was found not guilty after a lengthy trial.
"I don't feel good about any of this," Hampton told "GMA." "I just feel like we presented these women's stories after we did a lot of vetting and a lot of investigating.
"We believed the women who came forward after we had done the work and we were honored to put their stories on this platform," she added.
"Surviving R. Kelly" was an instant ratings success when it began airing in January and kicked off a renewed interest in alleged sexual abuse claims against Kelly. The series looked into allegations of sexual assault and underage sex made by multiple women and interviewed some of the singer's counterparts in the entertainment industry, including John Legend and Wendy Williams.
"This is something that he's doing right now," Hampton told "GMA." "Our documentary aired in early January and it will air again this week. But two of the girls that we have their parents and their families on our docuseries, they're still with R. Kelly. They were 17 and 19 when he disappeared them from their families. They have not talked to their parents for three years. So this isn't a story about what R. Kelly used to do; this is a story about what our colleague is doing in this moment."
Hampton was caught off guard by the indictment as much as anyone despite her involvement in the television investigation.
"I can't say that I expected an indictment," Hampton said. "I don't have much faith in the criminal justice system -- particularly after what happened during his first trial. But I am going to remain with the families and the survivors. I'm hopeful that there is a just outcome, but I didn't expect this. But it's here."
Kelly is being held without bond before a hearing Saturday afternoon. He did not respond to shouted questions from reporters when he turned himself in around 8 p.m. local time.
The pop star's attorney, Steve Greenberg, dismissed the new charges and called the accusers liars.
"I think all the women are lying, yes," he told reporters late Friday night. "This has become, 'Hey, R. Kelly -- I can say R. Kelly did something' -- boom. There was a press conference yesterday, 'Oh, these two girls were assaulted by R. Kelly!' And the lawyer stood there with a picture of LL Cool J!"
Lawyer Michael Avenatti, who Greenberg called a "grandstander," claimed Friday he turned over a 40-minute sex tape to authorities in which the singer repeatedly mentions the girl featured is 14 years old.
ABC News' Aaron Katersky, Chris Francescani and Jeffrey Christman contributed to this report.
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