On January 18, RCA Records and its parent company Sony Music finally announced that they were cutting ties with R. Kelly.

The work to hold R. Kelly accountable for sexual abuse of minors has been a long and harrowing battle for justice for all the Black girls who were disbelieved and made vulnerable to Kelly. This victory is for them. Sony's decision to finally drop Kelly is in part thanks to UltraViolet members who followed the lead of Black women organizers working for years to #MuteRKelly. We were proud to work alongside leaders of the #MuteRKelly movement, Color of Change, Girls for Gender Equity and more.

Here's what UltraViolet members did:  

• • Following the release of the explosive documentary series "Surviving R. Kelly," UltraViolet members took action to make sure the outraged public demanded justice for the girls Kelly abused. Over 29,000 signed a petition telling RCA to drop Kelly, and together we generated hundreds of tweets at the company.

• •We commissioned a plane that read "RCA/Sony: Drop Sexual Predator R. Kelly" to fly over Sony headquarters in California. 

• •Finally, days before RCA's announcement, UltraViolet worked with allies like the #MuteRKelly campaign, Girls for Gender Equity, Color of Change, NOW NYC, and CREDO to rally over 100 activists outside RCA's headquarters in New York City and deliver over 200,000 petition signatures. Tens of thousands of people watched the Facebook livestream.

Our actions and public opposition over the past few weeks earned over 400 press hits, including coverage in Rolling Stone, Billboard Magazine, New York Magazine, The Root, Variety, Complex, and more. But at the end of the day, this work wouldn't have been possible without the leadership of Black women organizers. 

Now, UltraViolet is working to cement lasting change at RCA and Sony--and send a message to the wider entertainment industry: The public will no longer tolerate complicity in sexual abuse.