Public Enemy’s Chuck D is clearing the air on Twitter after he faced backlash for what many perceived as his implied support for R. Kelly. Come Again, Chuck? The provocative and bold rap legend was among many weighing in on the latest R.Kelly development after he was found guilty on all charges in his case […]
Two years ago, R. Kelly and Azriel Clary, one of the women allegedly part of his “sex cult,” appeared on CBS for an interview with Gayle King to defend Kelly from the renewed accusations against him that had arisen in the wake of the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries. Today, Clary returned for another sitdown with King, this time after testifying against Kelly in his New York sex trafficking and racketeering case.
Kelly was found guilty on all charges and awaits sentencing, meanwhile, in her new interview, Clary calls her previous appearance a “mistake” and admits that the singer told her what to say. “Before that interview, he had us practicing every single day,” she says. “Answering questions. And if he didn’t like our answers, he would tell us exactly what to say and how to say it, so any time you mentioned anything about sexual preference, we already know to say, ‘I’m not here to talk about that,’ because that’s what he told us to say every single time.”
However, she calls that 2019 interview “a blessing” because “For five years, since I was 17, I didn’t have any relationship with any other woman except for the women that [Kelly] had been intimate with. And so when I did that interview with you, I instantly regretted immediately how I reacted.” She says that seeing King remain poised, even in the face of a violent outburst from Kelly (that also went viral), Clary wondered to herself, “I used to be that poised, I used to be that calm, what happened to that girl?”
You can watch the full interview above.
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After being found guilty of sex crimes, R. Kelly’s honorary “key to the city” in Baton Rouge has been revoked, according to a recent report from TMZ.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 some reason, TMZ thought it’d be a grand idea to find out what Bill Cosby thought of the recently concluded R. Kelly trial. The disgraced R&B singer was found guilty this week of an extensive list of crimes including racketeering and sex trafficking. The equally disgraced comedian, whose own 2019 conviction for sexual assault was recently overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on a technicality, gave a comment through his spokesperson Andrew Wyatt.
Asked by one of TMZ’s seemingly omnipresent flock of cameramen what Cosby thought of the result of Kelly’s trial, Wyatt said, “We talked about it today and the first thing he said, he was like, ‘Look, the guy was railroaded.’”
Of course, in both cases, massive amounts of evidence were given of the two stars’ deeds. In Cosby’s case, dozens of women came forward to give testimony that he had a pattern of drugging women to have sex with them — something Cosby himself admitted to doing in 2005. Cosby’s recent conviction was overturned thanks to a “non-prosecution agreement” made by prosecutor Bruce Castor. When new witnesses came forward, another prosecutor pushed for a second trial before the statute of limitations on the crimes expired.
Likewise, Kelly previously dodged justice when the defendant in his 2008 rape case refused to testify — but that opened the door for the new case, in which Kelly was accused of running a criminal empire that allegedly intimidated and bribed witnesses, paid to have documents faked so he could illegally marry a teenaged Aaliyah, and coerced a number of girls and women into having sex with Kelly and members of his entourage.
Naturally, plenty of observers on Twitter are only too aware of the details of both cases and had plenty to say about it. See responses to Cosby’s thoughts below.
Bill Cosby defending R. Kelly pic.twitter.com/CId5CnJSvQ
— Pizza Dad (@Pizza__Dad) September 29, 2021
Who had “Bill Cosby defending R. Kelly” on their 2021 Bingo card? pic.twitter.com/UKPFfEYumj
— NUFF (@nuffsaidny) September 29, 2021
Bill Cosby could’ve just slithered away from prison.
But no. Of course he’s out here defending child sex trafficker R. Kelly. pic.twitter.com/xI6GKcN70K
— ClockOutWars (@clockoutwars) September 29, 2021
Wouldn’t Bill Cosby have once dragged R Kelly because of his non-family friendly music? Now, he’s a member of the Brotherhood of Rapists.
— Stephen Robinson (@SER1897) September 29, 2021
Bill Cosby thinks R Kelly got railroaded. Birds of a feather. Pretty soon Matt Gaetz will be defending him too.
— Amy Lynn
(@AmyAThatcher) September 29, 2021
Let’s hear more about what Bill Cosby has to say pic.twitter.com/vginLTLA6Z
— Dumb Beezie (@dumbbeezie) September 29, 2021
Yes, because Bill Cosby is the moral compass we’re in need of at a time like this. https://t.co/OkFD0PVaEW
— Phil Spain (@philenespanol) September 28, 2021
Drea Kelly appeared on Good Morning Britain this week to discuss the outcome of the sex crimes trial against her ex-husband R. Kelly, saying that her “heart is in two places” as a result of the guilty verdict handed down Monday (September 27). R. Kelly was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking, including 14 specific acts and eight counts of violating the Mann Act. Drea is “sad that it took this long,” but said that she has to “also wear the hat of a mother and an ex-wife,” unlike some of R. Kelly’s other victims.
“My heart definitely goes out to the survivors and the courage that it takes to come forward and tell the story,” she said, “But my heart breaks as a mother because this is now the legacy that my children will have to deal with and their children’s children. At the end of the day, you cannot walk away from your bloodline.”
She noted that she has the ability to more or less cut ties as the singer’s ex-wife, but that the former couple’s three adult children won’t have it so easy. “I have the ability to separate and kinda distance myself from it, but his blood runs through my children’s veins,” she said. “It’s part of their DNA and they couldn’t escape it even if they wanted to. So it’s very difficult for me to sit in that position.”
R. Kelly posted a statement on Facebook after the verdict was announced, writing, “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.” Meanwhile, the prosecution in the trial produced a number of compelling witnesses who attested to Kelly violating the law by having fake ID made for Aaliyah so she couldn’t testify against him after a pregnancy scare, described specific sex acts committed by a 26-year-old Kelly on a 13-year-old Aaliyah, and recounted horrifying abuse at the singer’s hands.
A sentencing trial is set for May 4, 2022, as Kelly is set to go back to Chicago to face another trial on similar state charges.
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.
