Taraji P Henson denies defending R Kelly after controversial Instagram post about Harvey Weinstein

Taraji P Henson has spoken out against R Kelly after apparently implying in a controversial Instagram post that the musician has faced less backlash than Harvey Weinstein.

The actor had previously posted about Kelly and Weinstein on her Instagram Story, in a post that is no longer available.

She had compared the Instagram search results for the hashtag #muterkelly, which has been widely used by social media users speaking out against the singer, as well as for #muteweinstein and #muteharveyweinstein.

The Weinstein hashtags haven't been as commonly used. However, the movie mogul has been criticised by a number of public figures. The allegations against him, unveiled in October 2017, have popularised the #MeToo hashtag, giving more prominence to the movement previously launched by activist Tarana Burke.

Henson's search on Instagram rendered 33,300 posts for the #muterkelly hashtag, but only one for #muteweinstein and 29 for #muteharveyweinstein.

"Hmmmmm," she wrote next to a puzzled emoji, apparently claiming there was something suspicious about the discrepancy.

The post prompted backlash on social media, were some called Henson's comparison a "false equivalency" and said the use of the word "mute" didn't make as much sense for Weinstein since he's not a musician.

"Mute R Kelly is about not supporting his MUSIC. There would be no MUTE Harvey Weinstein hashtag considering he’s not a musical artist... why do yall wanna defend R. Kelly by any means necessary?" one person wrote.

"Somebody tell @TherealTaraji that Harvey Weinstein isn’t a musician so there won’t be a mute for him," someone else tweeted.

Henson clarified her stance on Kelly on Twitter on Wednesday, writing: "LET ME BE CLEAR R. KELLY IS GUILTY AND WRONG AND SHOULD BE MUTED PERIOD!!!!!"

Kelly, 52, has faced a number of sexual misconduct accusations of the past two decades.

The claims have received renewed attention following the release of the six-part Lifetime documentary Surviving R Kelly earlier this month.

He has denied any wrongdoing.