Akon is facing the consequences after showing empathy for R. Kelly, who was convicted in late September on sex trafficking charges. The "Lonely" singer spoke with TMZ in Los Angeles and said he believes Kelly still has the right to redemption. 

“There is always a way to redeem yourself, but you have to first accept the fact that you’re wrong,” Akon said. “He has the right to redeem himself from those mistakes. Even him. He has the right to try to make right by those he hurt.”

The 48-year-old then brought religion into the discussion. 

“I believe that God makes no mistakes," he said. "People can debate back and forth all day but if it’s happening to him, it’s supposed to happen to him, for whatever reason. Now, that’s something that he has to have within himself, to re-evaluate his whole life, his way of being, because to get caught up in a situation like that, whatever happens, [it’s] between him and God.”

The interview took another wild twist when Akon suggested Kelly's survivors consider forgiveness. 

"The people that he hurt also has the right to decide if they want to forgive him," he said. "I believe that not forgiving people only puts you in more pain. You gotta let all that go and just put that in the hands of the Lord and let everything work out the way it's supposed to."

He also asserted the singer's talent.

"At the end of the day, you cannot deny his talent," the "Don't Matter" singer said. "He is one of the greatest R&B artists, writers, producers that came on this business. You can't take that away from him."

"Who he is as a person, we're not the ones to judge because we weren't there," he said. "The only person that can help himself is him. What happened is between him and God and the victims."