Dame Dash Clarifies Why He Worked With R. Kelly Amid Claims He Assaulted Aaliyah 

Dame Dash is “setting the records straight” about why he appeared in the music video for R. Kelly’s “Fiesta (Remix),” despite his former girlfriend Aaliyah telling him that the R&B singer assaulted her.  

During a recent interview on his America Nu Network, the Roc-A-Fella co-founder explained why he appeared in the video “considering what the entire industry” knew about R. Kelly. 

“I didn’t want any part of it, and I told them I don’t want a dollar from it,” he said, claiming Aaliyah was aware he was in the visuals but didn’t want to cause conflict.  

“Her exact words to me were, ‘I don’t want to start any trouble. I just want to heal and get as far away from it as possible,’” he added. “She asked me not to be in any scenes with [R. Kelly] or take any pictures with him, and I respected that.” 

He continued, “I did my shots with Jay, but I wasn’t in any scenes with R. Kelly,” he said. “You’ll never see me in a picture with him.” 

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“I’ve answered this before, but here it is again,” Dame captioned an Instagram clip of the interview. “When Jay chose to keep working with R. Kelly, I told Aaliyah. Her response was clear—she just wanted to heal, avoid any drama, and move forward in peace. So when it came to the Fiesta video, I made sure I wasn’t in any scenes or photos with R. Kelly. I stayed in the trailer unless my shots with Jay were being filmed. That’s the truth.” 

The question stemmed from a previous conversation on America Nu, during which Dame claimed Hov’s decision to team up with R. Kelly on the collaborative album The Best of Both Worlds contributed to the breakdown of his relationship with JAY-Z.