R Kelly

Earlier this week, R. Kelly was officially convicted of sex crimes after years of accusations. Multiple people came forward to testify against the disgraced R&B singer in court and Kelly was found guilty of racketeering and eight violations of an anti-sex trafficking law. Immediately following the guilty verdict, Kelly is now apparently an unwelcome face in certain parts of Louisiana.

After being found guilty of sex crimes, R. Kelly’s honorary “key to the city” in Baton Rouge has been revoked, according to a recent report from TMZ. Apparently, the same official who granted the singer the honor back in 2013, Baton Rouge Metro Council member Denise Marcelle, is rescinding the key and “regrets” even awarding R. Kelly with it in the first place. Though there had allegations against the singer when he was given the key, Marcelle told TMZ she didn’t do much research about the case and only knew he had been acquitted in 2008.

The Baton Rouge “key to the city” is actually a $250 plaque. Per TMZ’s report, the plaque won’t be physically taken from the singer’s possession, but all of its honor will be stripped. Of course, it’s not likely that R. Kelly will even be able to travel to Baton Rouge any time soon, seeing as he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years and could even be sentenced to life in prison.

For years now, R. Kelly’s future has hung in the balance as the controversial singer has faced charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. Yesterday, he was found guilty of those charges and could end up spending the rest of his life in prison, or at least a significant chunk of time. After the verdict was rendered, Kelly offered a statement.

On his Facebook page, he shared a message for his followers, in which he said he was disappointed by the verdict and proclaimed his innocence: “To all my fans and supporters I love you all and thank you for all the support. Today’s verdict was disappointing and I will continue to prove my innocence and fight for my freedom. #notguilty.”

Meanwhile, Kelly’s attorney, Deveraux Cannick, spoke outside the courthouse after the verdict, saying (via Revolt):

“Of course Mr. Kelly is disappointed. He was not anticipating this verdict because based on the evidence, why should he anticipate this verdict? […] You saw witness after witness giving three, four, five different versions as to what they said happened here. […] You didn’t get to see what we saw in terms of the discovery. You didn’t get to see all the inconsistencies. We said in our summation that the government cherry-picked their version that they thought would support the continuation of the narrative. Why would he expect this verdict given all the inconsistencies that we saw?”

There’s still some time before we know what will become of Kelly, as his sentencing date is set for May 4, 2022.

After years of allegations and court dates for R. Kelly, a verdict has finally been handed down: The New York Times reports that today, Kelly was found guilty of racketeering as well as eight violations of an anti-sex trafficking law. The singer now “faces the possibility of decades in prison,” the publication says.

As for Kelly’s reaction to the conviction, the Times notes, “R. Kelly sat motionless in the courtroom as he was found guilty of all nine counts of the racketeering and sex-trafficking charges against him. His facial expression was hidden by a mask.”

This story is being updated.

R. Kelly is currently on trial facing charges including sex crimes, human trafficking, child pornography, racketeering, and obstruction of justice. After the prosecution had several alleged victims come forward to detail the reported abuse they faced at the hands of the R&B singer, Kelly’s defense team is now making their case. But just after the singer failed to produce one of his own witnesses, Kelly is now reportedly opting out of testifying on his own behalf.

During his hearing on Wednesday, Kelly told the judge that he won’t be taking the the witness stand to defend himself, per a report from Billboard. “You don’t want to testify, correct?” US District Judge Ann Connelly asked during the proceeding, to which Kelly replied: “Yes, ma’am.” Apparently, Kelly’s main reason is that he wants to avoid cross-examination from prosecution.

Kelly’s defense team is expected to rest their case on Wednesday evening, making way for closing arguments. Kelly’s defense case has been relatively brief and primarily relies on employees and other associates who agreed to discredit the sex crime allegations on the singer’s behalf. Per Billboard‘s report, most witnesses claimed they never saw Kelly abuse anyone, with one mentioning they only ever saw the singer being “chivalrous” to his love interests. Another witness, however, admitted on the stand that they owed Kelly for their career success and hoped to see him win the case.

On the other hand, the prosecution in Kelly’s case have brought a number of witnesses to the stands. One witness claimed they saw Aaliyah, who was under age when she met Kelly, in a sexual situation with the singer. Another woman accused Kelly of horrific and abusive sex crimes, including a forced abortion.

The R. Kelly trial moved into its defense stage yesterday, with Rolling Stone remarking that Kelly’s defense seemed to be well behind the eight-ball, failing to produce one of its witnesses, who it claimed was out of town. This was after the defense also apparently scrapped a list of witnesses at the last minute. The two witnesses who remained maintained R. Kelly’s innocence of the crimes against him — kidnapping, sexual exploitation of a child, racketeering, and more — and tried to characterize the singer as chivalrous.

However, on cross-examination, the prosecution worked to establish their unreliability as witnesses. The first, Dhanai Ramnanan, apparently couldn’t remember specific details of his dealings with R. Kelly and the prosecution pressed him to identify himself in photos of the singer with women on his tour bus. He was unable to, which allowed the prosecution to present an argument that there was no way for Ramnanan to know what Kelly was doing when he wasn’t around. Ramnanan was also colored by his need to remain on Kelly’s good side.

The second witness, Larry Hood, was the singer’s bodyguard and a former Chicago police officer; however, the prosecution brought up Hood’s prior conviction for felony forgery. While Hood maintained he did not know that he was spending counterfeit $100 bills in 2007, he still pled guilty. Likewise, while he claimed he didn’t know about Kelly’s marriage to a then-underage Aaliyah, the prosecution implied that this could also be a falsehood or a gross oversight by Hood.

Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem that R. Kelly’s chivalrousness precludes any of the testimony against him.

The trial is set to continue Tuesday and Wednesday. Rolling Stone notes that the defense still had not furnished a list of witnesses.