We missed this story as we we haven’t been on full speed over the holidays, but Raz-B, a former member of boy band B2K, posted several videos on YouTube in which he and his brother Ricky Romance are taped talking and having conversations alleging that B2K’s producer, Chris Stokes, sexually molested them Raz for years. It took me a while to find the videos as they were removed and re-added to YouTube several times, but here’s a link to the first video on another source. Here’s the second video in which the brothers confront Chris Stokes over the phone.
In the first video, Raz-B says that Stokes sodomized him when he was 11, that his brother was also molested, and that R&B singer Marques Houston, formerly of the group Immature, was involved but was young at the time. Raz is trying to forgive Stokes as he is a devout Christian and is trying to make sense of what happened through his religion. He said he was brainwashed as a child to accept the molestation and that he doesn’t know if this happened to the rest of the members, but thinks that it did.
Stokes denied all the allegations and Raz-B was taped recanting the rape claim, but multiple sources have come forward to say that Chris Stokes was indeed a pedophile and that Raz was coerced to take back his claims.
Bossip has interviews with both Raz B’s brother, Ricky Romance, and with E Jizza, who is the CEO of the management group that handles Raz B and Ricky Romance’s careers. Both state that Chris Stokes is a pedophile who preyed on multiple young artists under his care. Ricky cuts the interview with Bossip before revealing why his brother took back his story, but he told another blog why that happened:
Bossip: OK. Alright, Let’s get right down to it. According to the video, you and your brother stated that Chris Stokes molested you. Is this true?
Ricky: Oh yeah, it’s very true. It’s true. It’s real. It’s not a game.
Bossip: Ok, when did this begin and how long did it occur?
Ricky: Back. Shit. Back in …back when Immature first came out. Back in like ’93. Back in like ’93.
Bossip: OK. How long has Chris Stokes engaged in the molestation of your brother?
Ricky: Well, how long has Chris Stokes been engaging in the molesting of all of the artists over there at TUG?
Bossip: Yes you can say that but we would also like to know, from your knowledge as well, the situation with your brother?
Ricky: Uhh ok. Well you know, I mean, it’s been going on since Raz was 11.
Bossip: Since he was 11?
Ricky: From the time he was 11 to about the time to about the time he was like 16.
Bossip: Ok. Why did you wait so long to come forward?
Ricky: Well actually, my brother just told me. I didn’t find until 3 weeks ago. We were actually just at my mom’s house. We were hanging out, you know. And he told me. And when he told me, I realized that I had… [phone disconnected and was reconnected]
Bossip: And how long ago did he tell you?
Ricky: About three weeks ago. You know it was just something that I had to just step forward and handle. Like, that’s my little brother I didn’t protect him. I should have protected him. I know some crazy shit was going on over there, but I couldn’t figure the shit out, you know. And I should have protected my brother. You know. And I didn’t you, know what I mean.?
And he’s a man, You know he has a son. You know what I mean? And he wouldn’t want something like that to happen to his son. So I’m just being the big brother and I’m protecting him. First. You know?
Like I said his situation was a lot more graphical. My situation is more on the surface.
Bossip: Ok.
Ricky: But we were both molested by Chris Stokes. And he’s sick. And I wish we would have just been family. You know, it hurts my feelings to have to talk to him and to have to go through all of these different situations and conversations just to try to get a resolution. There ain’t no resolution. The resolution is the DA needs to pick up this case and it needs to be handled.
Bossip: Ok. Why haven’t you guys reported this to the authorities?
Well, as you know the apology video is out there. Everyone knows about that. Reason why we have the apology video is because… you know. You know what? We gonna have to cut this interview.
Bossip: Ok
Ricky: We gonna have to cut this interview. Yeah, I don’t feel comfortable. But you can use what you got but I can’t talk-
[From Bossip.com]
Ricky wasn’t comfortable telling Bossip why his brother recanted his story, but he soon got his nerve up and told The New Urban Blog. His brother seems to have been the victim of threats and coercion. Plus he says that alleged molestor Stokes has the LAPD behind him, and is best friends with the chief of police!
TNU: Rumors have swirled that Raz B was forced by gang members to take back his statements against Chris Stokes. Is this true?
RICKY ROMANCE: I won’t say names of who it was who came at Raz to take that shit back, but I’ll tell you that it was some street niggaz. That’s all Ican say.
TNU: Since you released your molestation allegations against Chris Stokes, has there been backlash?
RICKY ROMANCE: Listen, yes. I’m being followed. Niggaz are threatening my life, but I don’t care. I stand by what I said because it’s the truth. Maybe I’m the only one brave enough to talk, but this has gone on for too long. I just want Chris’s sick child molesting pedophile ass to go to jail. Period.
TNU: How is Stokes threatening you?
RICKY ROMANCE: Right now he’s trying to intimidate us. Chris Stokes is very connected. His best friend is the Los Angeles Chief of Police.
TNU: How did the alleged molestation start?
RICKY ROMANCE: All of this is my fault. Chris tried this shit with me and I let it happen to my brother. Chris came into our lives at a vulnerable time. Our mother was on drugs and having problems in her marriage. He was our father figure. The sad thing is, I love Chris. That’s my family. He took DeMario in and was supposed to show him a better life. That better life was just financial. DeMario never finished school, hardly saw a dime and was molested from the time he was little until he stopped it.
TNU: Were you and Raz B the only boys who worked with Chris that got molested?
RICKY ROMANCE: Chris told all of us “participate in those fuckin gay acts, and you’ll always be taken care of.”
[From The New Urban Blog]
In case you’re not familiar with B2K, they had the hit Bump Bump Bump featuring P. Diddy in 2003, and were together from 2001 until 2004. Another B2K member, Omarion, has denied that their claims are true and said in a statement that Chris Stokes was a father figure to him and that he “has never seen him behave inappropriately.”
Why would these guys make these allegations if they weren’t true? They keep asserting that they’re men now and not gay so they sound believable to me. It’s a huge scandal and one that needs a criminal investigation outside of the LAPD if Stokes has ties to the chief of police. I am inclined to believe them, but if you step back from the emotion this needs an official impartial investigation and not just a bunch of allegations. There could be other issues going on here that we don’t know about and they could have a reason to want to smear Stokes. It seems strange that they used YouTube to make these claims and didn’t go through proper channels, but Ricky does say that it needs an investigation by the DA. He also confirmed that as of Thursday, his brother was missing.
It wouldn’t be surprising considering that Lou Pearlman, the manager of ‘N Sync and The Backstreet Boys, is also alleged to be a pedophile. It just makes you sick that someone could possibly prey on vulnerable kids like that.
Update: There’s a new radio interview over at World Star Hip Hop in which Ricky explains the situation clearly, saying that he was only nearly touched by Stokes but that his brother recently told him he was abused for years.
Marques Houston, Omarion and Raz-B were among the stars of the 2004 film, You Got Served, which also featured Steve Harvey and was directed by Chris Stokes. It was a hip-hop street dancing competition movie that was widely panned.
Update 2: Thanks to commentor JoJo for pointing out that in the second video, when Raz calls Stokes, Stokes clearly says at 1:42 into the video:
“I don’t do that no more, that’s what I’m trying to tell you… What I’m trying to tell you is that ain’t me. That was us years ago…. I don’t do that no more.” There is no lead-up to this call, though, so you don’t hear or see Raz saying what “that” refers to, but it’s pretty damning.
Pictures are Updated: Header image is of Raz-B at an Ed Hardy fashion show at Studio 54 on 2/13/07, thanks to WENN. Inset image is of Marques Houston, Chris Stokes and Omarion at the Multicultural Prism Awards on 12/17/04, thanks to PRPhotos. Raz-B is also shown at the Soul Train Awards on 3/20/04, thanks to PRPhotos. Image below is of Marques Houston and Chris Stokes at the the Launch of Christopher Brian Resort Collection at Kitson Men on 12/4/07, from WENN. Internet rumors allege that Houston and Stokes are lovers.
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