KELLY: 'EX-PUBLICIST ENCOURAGED AFFAIR WITH DAUGHTER'

LATEST: R. KELLY has laughed off claims his former publicist REGINA DANIELS severed ties with him because of a sexual relationship he had with her 21-year-old daughter. Daniels' music industry veteran husband George Daniels has revealed his wife quit her longtime post in November (07) amid rumours Kelly, who is facing 14 counts of having sex with a minor, had embarked on an intimate romance with her daughter Maxine. But the R+B superstar insists Daniels had encouraged the love affair with Maxine, and he and his former publicist actually parted company after he accused her of incompetence. Kelly's statement reads: "It's hard to take seriously the moral outrage expressed by George and Regina Daniels over R. Kelly's relationship with Mr. Daniels' adult daughter, Maxine. "The fact is that they had no problem with the relationship - indeed, they encouraged it - while Ms. Daniels was on Mr. Kelly's payroll. "It was Regina Daniels, then working as a publicist for Mr. Kelly, who persuaded him to attend her stepdaughter's 21st birthday party. And it was Regina Daniels who shortly thereafter gave her stepdaughter Mr. Kelly's private phone number, with the admonition: `Don't tell your father.' "It was only after Ms. Daniels resigned her position to avoid being fired for incompetence that her stepdaughter's relationship suddenly became an issue for her and her husband."