Common Says Black People Could Have Done More Amid R. Kelly Allegations: 'We Failed as a Community'

As artists continue to share their thoughts on the gut-wrenching six-part docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, on Tuesday (Jan. 8), TMZ caught up with Common to speak on the allegations pinned against his fellow Chicago-bred artist.

"We failed as a community because we knew these things were happening," Common told TMZ. "And instead of trying to be like, 'Yo. Let's go and try to resolve this situation and free these young ladies and stop this thing that's going on,' we were just like, 'Man, we rocking to the music.'"

Common also took accountability for remaining mum himself and for not speaking on these issues sooner. "I'm guilty of that too myself because I didn't stop and be like, 'Yo!' and speak against this," he opined. "R. Kelly's from my hometown. At the end of the day, he's a human being. He has his issues and we see that, but I can't condone that and I shouldn't be allowing that to happen. We failed our community as black people."

Since the finale of Lifetime's Surviving R. Kelly, a long list of celebrities have candidly expressed their thoughts against the troubled star. Some of Kelly's contemporaries, such as Ne-Yo, Tank and Omarion, have chosen to stand against him in support of the alleged victims featured in the documentary. On Sunday, Omarion announced on Twitter that he would no longer perform any songs written by R. Kelly following B2K's reunion tour.

"While I know our fans would be greatly disappointed if we didn’t perform those songs on #TheMillennoumTour, after the tour I am retiring those songs from my set list. I too am raising a future queen. #A.A.R.T. (Artists Acknowledging Responsibility & Truth) Peace y’all." he wrote.

Watch Common's interview with TMZ below.