Crime

Executive Producer Dream Hampton Talks “Surviving R. Kelly”

NNPA NEWSWIRE — For Dream Hampton, who served as executive producer of the much-talked about “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary, the explosive revelations in the film were just the tip of the iceberg.

Published

7 years ago

January 8, 2019

Oakland Post

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

For Dream Hampton, who served as executive producer of the much-talked about “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary, the explosive revelations in the film were just the tip of the iceberg.

Hampton said there were many things she couldn’t talk about and will never discuss because it’s “so dark and sad and traumatic.”

That’s saying quite a bit as the three-part Lifetime Television series not only has social media and the general public aghast but has celebrities like John Legend and Chance the Rapper expressing remorse for ever working with Kelly.

“Maybe he could’ve gotten help when he was 30, or you know, 29 when the Aaliyah stuff broke,” Hampton said in an extensive interview on The Karen Hunter Show on Sirius XM Radio.

Aaliyah was largely left out of the documentary, but Hampton said she didn’t want to devote an entire episode on the late songstress.

“For me, she’s actually his type,” Hampton told Hunter. “You know, what he targets are very regular, and you know, your audience understands this, like brown-skin black girls. You know, like he, we can talk about publicly, oh, that he targets black girls who aren’t famous. No, he has a very specific type, you know.”

Surviving R. Kelly — which aired on Lifetime from Thursday, Jan. 3 to Saturday, Jan. 5 — featured wide-ranging interviews with Kelly’s family members, former friends and colleagues, but most notably, women who claim that for decades, the hit-making singer and producer used his power and influence to sexually and physically abuse women and young girls.

PEOPLE Magazine editors said they reached out to Kelly’s representatives who offered a “no comment” about the series.

In 2002, Kelly, a Chicago native, was indicted after a video surfaced allegedly showing a man engaged in sex acts with a woman who some witnesses testified was 14 at the time of the recording. Both Kelly and the woman denied that the video was of them, and Kelly was never charged with assault. In 2008, Kelly was found not guilty on 21 counts of child pornography.

Several published reports said Kelly intends to counteract the documentary with lawsuits and the creation of a Facebook page to “expose the lies.” However, Hampton said there was plenty of truth attached to the story and much more remains untold.

“When I went into this project, I was clear that he was a predator and that he targeted young and vulnerable girls. I don’t think I knew he was an abuser, and I don’t mean to sound naive, but I just didn’t think physical abuse was a part of his repertoire,” Hampton said.

“I certainly didn’t know I would have to listen to a woman after woman talking about being denied food and movement. I mean, we about to get into a couple of episodes where you’re going to hear testimony of girls talking about having, you know, they couldn’t leave the room unless he told them to and all of them didn’t have bathrooms in the room. So, they used slop buckets. His runners would put slop buckets in the room. So, I don’t think I was prepared for his sadism.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

2018 Honda Accord Hybrid Interior 360 Video

Don't Miss

The Wakanda One Village Project: African Union Ambassador Promotes Diaspora Homecomings

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

Published

2 weeks ago

January 2, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of December 24 – 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 24 – 30, 2025

Published

4 weeks ago

December 25, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Alameda County

Oakland Council Expands Citywide Security Cameras Despite Major Opposition

In a 7-1 vote in favor of the contract, with only District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife voting no, the Council agreed to maintain its existing network of 291 cameras and add 40 new “pan-tilt-zoom cameras.”

Published

4 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

At the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, Flock Safety introduces new public safety technology – Amplified Intelligence, a suite of AI-powered tools designed to improve law enforcement investigations. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

The Oakland City Council this week approved a $2.25 million contract with Flock Safety for a mass surveillance network of hundreds of security cameras to track vehicles in the city.

In recent weeks hundreds of local residents have spoken against the camera system, raising concerns that data will be shared with immigration authorities and other federal agencies at a time when mass surveillance is growing across the country with little regard for individual rights.

The Flock network, supported by the Oakland Police Department, has the backing of residents and councilmembers who see it as an important tool to protect public safety.

“This system makes the Department more efficient as it allows for information related to disruptive/violent criminal activities to be captured … and allows for precise and focused enforcement,” OPD wrote in its proposal to City Council.

According to OPD, police made 232 arrests using data from Flock cameras between July 2024 and November of this year.

Based on the data, police say they recovered 68 guns, and utilizing the countywide system, they have found 1,100 stolen vehicles.

However, Flock’s cameras cast a wide net. The company’s cameras in Oakland last month captured license plate numbers and other information from about 1.4 million vehicles.

Speaking at Tuesday’s Council meeting, Fife was critical of her colleagues for signing a contract with a company that has been in the national spotlight for sharing data with federal agencies.

Flock’s cameras – which are automated license plate readers – have been used in tracking people who have had abortions, monitoring protesters, and aiding in deportation roundups.

“I don’t know how we get up and have several press conferences talking about how we are supportive of a sanctuary city status but then use a vendor that has been shown to have a direct relationship with (the U.S.) Border Control,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Several councilmembers who voted in favor of the contract said they supported the deal as long as some safeguards were written into the Council’s resolution.

“We’re not aiming for perfection,” said District 1 Councilmember Zac Unger. “This is not Orwellian facial recognition technology — that’s prohibited in Oakland. The road forward here is to add as many amendments as we can.”

Amendments passed by the Council prohibit OPD from sharing camera data with any other agencies for the purpose of “criminalizing reproductive or gender affirming healthcare” or for federal immigration enforcement. California state law also prohibits the sharing of license plate reader data with the federal government, and because Oakland’s sanctuary city status, OPD is not allowed to cooperate with immigration authorities.

A former member of Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission has sued OPD, alleging that it has violated its own rules around data sharing.

So far, OPD has shared Flock data with 50 other law enforcement agencies.