R kelly singer full#
R kelly singer trial#

Kelly in accordance with its “creator responsibility guidelines” That policy prohibits “on- and/or off-platform behavior that we may consider to be inappropriate,” including “intending to cause malicious harm to others” and “participating in abuse or violence, demonstrating cruelty, or participating in fraudulent/deceptive behavior leading to real-world harm.” YouTube said it pulled down the channels linked to R. The 54-year-old faces 10 years to life in prison. Kelly is set to be sentenced May 4, 2022. YouTube’s move to delete Kelly’s channels comes eight days after a federal jury found him guilty of racketeering and eight charges of an anti-sex trafficking law. 'Justice is bought in America too frequently by money and fame and that's what happened when he was first tried for making child pornography in 2008.Kelly’s official accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook also have recently been disabled. As he sang in the last song he released to the world: I am a broke ass legend. 'I'm not so sure we would have seen the conviction or the sentencing today if he still had the money and fame that he had at the height of his powers through the 90s, through the 2000s,' DeRogatis told RN Breakfast following the sentencing. This method was partly what allowed Harvey Weinstein to continue abusing women for as long as he did.īut DeRogatis says systemic failures and racism also allowed Kelly to evade justice. ( AP: Richard Drew)ĭeRogatis says there existed what amounted to a 'settlement factory', where any accusers would be paid for their silence – sometimes before a case was even publicly filed. Journalist Jim DeRogatis first covered the singer's alleged crimes in 2000, and broke the story about the infamous Kelly video tape, which showed the singer allegedly abusing and urinating on a 14-year-old girl.īack then, court records showed the same pattern: Kelly was using his fame to coerce underage girls into sex.Īfter years of accusations, pressure was mounted on Sony Music to drop R Kelly, with protesters rallying outside the company's New York headquarters in 2019. Kelly was one of the most prominent people tried on sex charges during the #MeToo movement, with accusations dating back decades.ĭespite allegations about his abuse of young girls, which began circulating in the 1990s, Kelly continued to be adored by legions of fans and sold millions of albums. Why did it take so long to bring R Kelly to justice? She died in a plane crash in 2001 aged 22.

Kelly was 27 at the time.Īaliyah worked with Kelly, who wrote and produced her 1994 debut album, Age Ain't Nothing But A Number.

His alleged victims included the late singer Aaliyah, who Kelly briefly and illegally married in 1994 when she was 15. The Brooklyn federal court jury convicted him after hearing that he used his entourage of managers and aides to meet girls – some plucked from crowds at his concerts – and keep them obedient, an operation that prosecutors said amounted to a criminal enterprise.

R kelly singer trial#

The former R&B star has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for using his fame to subject young fans - some just children - to systematic sexual abuse.īack in September 2021, Kelly was found guilty of all charges in his sex trafficking trial in New York, including one count of racketeering – essentially, running a criminal enterprise – and eight counts of violating the Mann Act, which makes it illegal to take people across state lines for the purposes of prostitution.Ī courtroom sketch of R Kelly during his sentencing hearing in federal court. He's also written and produced for many artists, including Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Aaliyah. He's best known for the 1996 hit I Believe I Can Fly, which won three Grammy Awards.īut before that, he had developed a reputation for his take on R&B with songs like Bump & Grind and Sex Me.

R kelly singer full#

R Kelly (whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly) is considered one of the most influential R&B artists of his generation and has sold more than 70 million records worldwide. So why did it take so long for Kelly to be brought to justice? Who is R Kelly? R Kelly will now spend decades behind bars – but the disgraced R&B star spent just as long evading justice.Īccusations were first levelled at the Grammy-award winning singer in the 1990s.īut despite multiple women coming forward, Kelly continued to tour and rack up millions of streams.