Mo’Kelly on Tom Joyner Morning Show: Tavis Needs to Stop B*tchin’

*Tavis Smiley issued a cease and desist letter to radio talk show host Mo’Kelly after the journalist decided to discuss the “Poverty Tour.”

During an interview Tuesday on the Tom Joyner Morning Show with Roland Martin and the crew, Mo’Kelly discussed the history of the situation, saying Tavis has it all twisted.

From 2005 to 2010, Mo’Kelly worked for the Tavis Smiley radio show and was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement that stated he would not “not talk about his businesses or highlight the things that were of privileged or proprietary stature.”

Fast forward to this year around November. Mo’Kelly said the whole riff raff started when he wrote a blog about R. Kelly and his pedophiliac history.

“Originally I had written a blog post and an article for EURweb regarding R. Kelly,” Mo’Kelly told Martin and Joyner. “And I thought it was a contradiction how he can have a youth foundation and have all these stances in support of women and also publish the R. Kelly Memoir. He didn’t like that either and he also called Lee Bailey to have my column taken down, and I didn’t even work for the man.”

He continued, “This time around when I wanted to address this issue for Tavis I didn’t necessarily open the door for him … specifically because I had given him a chance to rebut my R.Kelly article. Instead of rebutting, he tried to have it taken down. And I didn’t work for the man. So at this point, I just commented on my own.”

The letter then came up after Mo and his crew decided to talk about poverty.

Mo made the point that he was only discussing the issues in which everyone had access to and it wasn’t unique to any information he acquired while working for Tavis. So at this point, Mo’Kelly says he’s going to continue doing what he is doing, especially because he is within the premise of what he agreed to when he originally signed that contract.

“People need to understand that it’s never personal. It’s about the premise and the process and the people. This is very principled in nature. If Tavis Smiley wants to for the idea of that we need to eradicate poverty in America, I am all for him and I support him in that regard. But I am not going to support foolishness. And I am not going to support something that is about leading our people off a cliff  (no fiscal cliff pun intended) – it is about substantive change moving forward, having a specific agenda or legislation to support. If it’s not there, I’m not about it, I’m not going to support it, regardless who your name is behind it.”

When asked by Martin if his attorneys had seen the cease and desist letter, Mo’Kelly answered yes.

“They said, ‘keep doing what you do!’”

Check out the full radio interview at BlackAmericaWeb.