R Kelly

R. Kelly Reportedly Won’t Testify During His Sex Trafficking Trial

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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.

R. Kelly Was Unable To Produce One Of His Own Witnesses On The First Day Of His Defense

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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.

A Witness In R. Kelly’s Sex Abuse Trial Says She Saw The Singer ‘In A Sexual Situation’ With Aaliyah

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The trial of R. Kelly continued yesterday with more testimony being given against the beleaguered singer who is accused of child sexual exploitation, child pornography production, kidnapping, forced labor, racketeering, and obstruction of justice. In yesterday’s testimony, a former backup dancer for Kelly, who only goes by “Angela” in official proceedings, revealed that she walked in on the singer engaging in a sex act with Aaliyah in 1993 — when Aaliyah would have been only 13 or 14 years old. Kelly would have been around 26.

According to the New York Times report of Angela’s account, the dancer was with R. Kelly on tour and went to visit the singer on his tour bus. Opening the door, she says she saw him and Aaliyah “in a sexual situation.” She said, “It appeared that he had his head in between her legs and was giving her oral sex.”

The relationship between R. Kelly and Aaliyah has been well-documented over the years; one of the crimes of which Kelly is accused includes bribing government officials to falsify documents allowing him to marry the then-underaged in 1994. It was revealed during the trial that associates believed Kelly thought Aaliyah might be pregnant with his child and married her to prevent her from testifying against him.

“Angela” is the tenth accuser to testify, according to Vulture, and says that she was 14 or 15 when she met Kelly and was a minor during several sexual encounters with him. She says she met Aaliyah in 1992 when she was introduced by Kelly on Aaliyah’s 13th birthday. Angela also testified to some of Kelly’s extreme measures during that tour, telling her and the other backup dancers they had to “pay dues” to re-enter a hotel after leaving to get food — which meant having sex with him. Angela says she stopped working for Kelly in the mid-90s and never confronted him about the incidents.

Yesterday was the 15th day of the trial. Previously, a male witness also accused Kelly of grooming him and attested to the singer’s penchant for sex with underage girls.

R. Kelly ‘Does Not Get Any Special Accommodations’ In Jail Despite His Celebrity Status

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R. Kelly is currently behind bars as he continues his trail after being accused of grooming and sexually abusing several minors. The disgraced singer has been in jail since July 2019, but despite his fame and the high-profile nature of his case, the singer is reportedly not granted any special accommodations.

Kelly has spent his time at two federal prisons, the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago and now the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. A recent report from Billboard details the singer’s stay, with his former lawyer Michael Leonard claiming he only leaves his small cell for two hours a day. “Kelly has spent the majority of his time in the Chicago lock-up, where Leonard says he is only allowed out of his 8×10, two-person cell for a few hours day to check his email, talk to his lawyers, make phone calls, shower and eat, with no access to the rooftop basketball court that is typically available during non-COVID times,” Leonard says. The lawyer added that “every once in a blue moon” Kelly sings for his fellow inmates “and the place would go crazy.”

Other than being granted additional access to his lawyers via video calls due to his “limitations with reading and writing,” Kelly “does not get any special accommodations,” according to attorney Stacey Richman. “He will get the same food as everyone else,” Richman said. “He, like everyone else, will have commissary money so he can access more foods and sundries.” Richman added that he could potentially get the chance to trade his autograph for more commissary items items, which includes boxes of Ramen noodles, tuna pouches, and packets of cookies.

Kelly continues to attend court where some of his accusers have testified about they abuse they’ve faced. Most recently, a male victim claimed Kelly sexually exploited him when he was just 17-years-old.

R. Kelly Has A Writing Credit On Drake’s New Album ‘Certified Lover Boy’

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Drake’s new album Certified Lover Boy has been out for a few hours now, and between its release and now, fans have been carefully examining the project. That sleuthing has led to an eyebrow-raising discovery: R. Kelly has a writing credit on the album.

Along with Drake, the artists credited as writers on the song “TSU” include Harley Arsenault, Noel Cadastre, F. Hills, Timothy Mosley (aka Timbaland), Ronald Coleman (aka OG Ron C), Christopher Cross, Justin Timberlake, and Robert Kelly (aka R. Kelly).

As Genius notes, the song samples NSYNC’s 1997 song “Sailing,” a cover of Cross’ 1980 single. Furthermore, others have pointed out the song also samples Timberlake’s “Until The End Of Time,” which Timbaland co-wrote. According to WhoSampled, the song also samples Kelly’s 1998 song “Half On A Baby,” which is where his writing credit comes from.

It was reported recently that Kelly is attempting to sell the publishing rights to his back catalog. If somebody purchased the rights, Kelly would not profit from his song being sampled on “TSU.” However, it appears Kelly is struggling to find a buyer, so as it stands now, Kelly still owns his publishing rights and will therefore profit from “TSU,” which is becoming a much-discussed song on one of the year’s biggest albums.

Of course, Kelly has faced many allegations of sexual misconduct in recent years. Most recently, an alleged male victim of sexual exploitation by Kelly testified in court.

Certified Lover Boy is out now via OVO Sound/Republic. Get it here.

A Male Victim Who Alleges R. Kelly Sexually Exploited Him As A Teenager Testified In The New York Trial

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Reports of R. Kelly’s sexual exploitation, grooming, and abuse of young women have been leveled against the R&B star for decades, but recent allegations have grown to include preying on young men as well. TZtestimony from the victim was already shared in legal documents, but he who was then 17-years-old when he appeared in court in New York today as a witness in Kelly’s sex-trafficking trial to detail how he initially met Kelly at McDonalds.

As The Guardian reports, the witness, who asked to testify anonymous, relayed how he was lured to Kelly’s house in 2007 where the singer asked “what I was willing to do for music.” The victim said he responded: “I’ll carry your bags… anything you need, I’ll be willing to do.” That was when Kelly brushed aside his offer for assistant work with “that’s not it, that’s not it,” asked if the victim had ever had sexual fantasies about men, and then proceeded to get on his knees and perform oral sex on the teenager. The victim said “he told me to keep [the encounter] between him and me,” and noted that he kept seeing the superstar after the incident because he was hopeful it would lead to success in the music industry.

Read more reporting on today’s testimony via The Guardian.