Podcasters Defend R. Kelly Interview, We Separate the Art From the Artist

Getting R. Kelly on the phone from prison put podcasters April Smith and Patricia Dillard in a serious dilemma ... one where they risked backlash from the public, and even their own families.

As we reported, April and Patricia made the decision to post their interview with the convicted felon, which they did for their "Inmate Tea with A&P" podcast -- and during their chat Patricia, in particular, was feeling it when Kelly started singing.

The duo told us scoring the Kelly interview happened totally by accident ... they were interviewing a different inmate who mentioned Kelly was in the same prison, and he managed to get him on the line.

April and Patricia say they were comfortable going forward with the interview because they didn't discuss his case at all -- he's under a gag rule while he appeals his conviction on multiple charges, including force labor, sexual exploitation of minor, and Mann Act violations.

As Patricia put it, "We're just 2 individuals who are able to separate the art from the artist."

They say they've had mixed responses to the podcast, which they expected, considering many people have considered Kelly fully canceled since his conviction -- but still, they told us ... "When R. Kelly calls, you answer."

By the way, the podcasters point out, working on prison reform is why they launched their podcast, and normally they speak to non-famous inmates ... mainly about prison conditions, and not details of their convictions.