Social media platform rules are constantly changing to address the concerns of the various industries they overlap. This is most noted when it comes to the use of music on the platforms. Several apps have built-in systems now that block the use of certain songs unless authorized by the owner of the song. As a result, people are often kicked off of Instagram live for playing music they do not own. Bow Wow recently experienced this, but according to him, it was not just any song that got him kicked off live; it was an R. Kelly song.
While jamming to some of R. Kelly’s hits on is Instagram live, Bow Wow claims the social media giant kicked him off. He says that mere moments before, he had been playing music from Bob Marley with no issues. As soon as R. Kelly’s song came on, the platform shut him down. He revealed the news on a separate live with his friends laughing in the background and attempting to play R. Kelly again, but Bow Wow was worried and asked them not to after a brief snip of Kellz can be heard in the room. “As soon as we played R. Kelly, Instagram flagged me and kicked me off. Don’t play that! Play something else!”
It is unclear if Instagram specifically killed his live due to R. Kelly or just their standard song policy was working on a delayed reaction. R. Kelly’s music has been blacklisted on several platforms following protests and movements around muting him for his past accusations. While you can still find his songs on several platforms, most streaming giants have removed him from curated playlists and anything else that might spotlight his music.
R. Kelly’s troubled past has made him a very hard artist to support in the last few years. Despite this, people like Bow Wow, aka Shad Moss, have continued to show his support for the embroiled star. Bow Wow told news outlets last year that he can separate the person from the artist and does not care what R. Kelly has done in his personal life because he just loves the music.
While this approach seemed politically correct, it looks bad when considering Bow Wow’s public relationship with R. Kelly’s ex-wife and his Growing Up Hip-Hop co-star Drea Kelly. According to Bow Wow, following the Lifetime documentary about R. Kelly’s accusations, he no longer wanted to film scenes with Drea. He accused her of being paid to lie on R. Kelly and did not want to be associated with anything dealing with his career or crimes. He then dismissed her in a Tweet questioning why she was on his show in the first place and reminding her that he was her boss.
Bow Wow’s loyalty to Kelly could stem from their working history together. R. Kelly’s hit single “I’m a Flirt” was initially a bonus track on Bow Wow’s 2006 album “Price of Fame.” Originally intended as the lead single, it was swapped out for the Chris Brown assisted “Shorty Like Mine,” which did moderately well for the rapper. R. Kelly would go on to remix the record a few months later with T.I. and T-Pain and release it as the lead single from his album “Double Up” in 2007. It would peak at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Latto recently experienced an Instagram live shutdown after trying to preview her new single “Wheelie” with 21 Savage. While being recorded on someone else’s phone, the “Big Energy” hit marker made the shocking discover that her Instagram live was blocked. Her and her staff struggled to understand why when she normally does not go live. Latto claims it must be some type of inside job and someone at Instagram has it out for her.
Fans in the comments laughed and theorized with her claiming it must be the government. “Not shook 😂😂😂😂 these glitches will have you thinking it’s a CIA inside job” Some assumed the block might be based on her use of curse words in past lives. “Probably cursing ppl out 😂 can’t right a curse word on Instagram now without them giving you a violation.” Do you think Instagram’s privacy policy is targeting certain acts or just randomly doing its job?
