R. Kelly Has Finally Been Convicted: Here's Everything You Need To Know
After a gruelling six-week trial, US singer R. Kelly has been found guilty of running a scheme to sexually abuse women and children over two decades.
Eleven accusers (nine women and two men) took the stand to describe the violence they encountered and, after two days of deliberation, the jury found Kelly guilty on all charges.
Sentencing is due on May 4, 2022 and Kelly could face life imprisonment.
What was R. Kelly on trial for?
The trial found Kelly guilty of manning a violent and coercive scheme that lured women and children for him to sexually abuse, and was found to have trafficked women between US States. He was also found guilty of racketeering, a charge normally levelled at organised crime associations.
During the trial, prosecutors described how Kelly’s managers, security guards and other members of his team assisted him in his abuse.
Victims were occasionally selected from his concert audiences, or were tempted to join him after being offered help with their fledgling music careers.
Legal documents revealed the level of torment to which Kelly subjected his victims. They were not allowed to use the bathroom, were ordered what clothes to wear and were forced to call Kelly ‘Daddy’.
One woman, identified in court as Sonja who testified that Kelly imprisoned, drugged and raped her, said in a written statement after the verdict: ‘I’m ready to start living my life free from fear and to start the healing process.’
Gloria Allred, a lawyer who represented several victims, told reporters: ‘I’ve been practicing law for 47 years. During this time, I've pursued many sexual predators who have committed crimes against women and children. Of all the predators that I have pursued, Mr Kelly is the worst.'
At a news conference outside the court, prosecutor Jacquelyn Kasulis said that the jury had sent a message to other powerful men like Kelly, who believe their celebrity will protect them.
‘No matter how long it takes, the long arm of the law will catch up with you,’ she said.
The verdict comes 13 years after Kelly was acquitted of child pornography charges.
How long is the history of the accusations against him?
In a word: very. Kelly himself was the victim of child sex abuse and detailed in his autobiography how he was raped by a female family member when he was just eight years old.
In 1994, the then 27-year-old star married 15-year-old singer Aaliyah. It was later discovered she had lied on the wedding certificate about her age, listing herself as 18.
Kelly, who wrote and produced Aaliyah's debut album, Age Ain't Nothing But A Number, has hardly spoken about their relationship since Aaliyah died in a plane crash in 2001.
In 1996, Tiffany Hawkins sued Kelly for personal injuries and emotional distress she claimed to have suffered during their three-year relationship, when she was 15 and he was 24. She accepted $250,000 in damages and the case was settled in 1998.
In 2001, Kelly was sued by an intern, Tracy Sampson, who accused him of inducing her into a relationship when she was 17 years old. ‘He often tried to control every aspect of my life including who I would see and where I would go,’ she said, adding that she was ‘treated as his personal sex object’.
In 2002 he was sued twice more by Patrice Jones (who claimed he impregnated her when she was underage) and Montina Woods (who alleged that he videotaped them having sex without her knowledge).
What about the child pornography charges?
Perhaps one of the most shocking accusations made against Kelly was in 2002, when he was charged with 21 counts of making child pornography, all involving the same girl.
His arrest came from a video which was sent anonymously to the Chicago Sun Times earlier in the year. They passed it on to police, who verified the authenticity of the tape with help from FBI forensic experts.
Kelly, who posted $750,000 bail, immediately denied the charges in an interview with MTV and later pleaded not guilty in court.
It took six years for the case to come to trial, in which time Kelly released his album Trapped In The Closet and was nominated for an Image Award by the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), which prompted widespread criticism.
The jury eventually concluded that they couldn’t prove the girl on the tapes was a minor, and Kelly was found not guilty.
Between 2002 and 2004, Kelly was charged with a further 12 counts of making child pornography, which were later dropped.
And how about the allegations of a ‘sex cult’?
In 2017, a Buzzfeed report accused Kelly of trapping six women in a sex cult. The article alleged that he seduced them when they approached him for help with their careers, then took control of their lives, confiscating their mobiles and banning contact with their friends and family.
Kelly's lawyer, Linda Mensch, issued a strongly-worded denial, saying the star was ‘alarmed and disturbed at the recent revelations’ and would ‘work diligently and forcibly to pursue his accusers and clear his name’.
How does the #MuteRKelly fit into all this?
I’m in awe of the courage of the R. Kelly survivors. I hope they find some degree of peace in this moment. I’m also deeply grateful to @dreamhampton for creating a space where Black survivors could be seen. #SurvivingRKelly changed everything for all of us. #MeToo Thank you.
— Drew Dixon (@deardrewdixon) September 27, 2021
In 2018, the #MuteRKelly campaign lobbied record label RCA to sever ties with the singer and also targeted streaming services. Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora all agreed to demote Kelly's songs from their playlists (a decision that was later reversed).
Around the same time, Linda Mensch quit as Kelly’s lawyer.
Meanwhile, the star was sued by a former partner, Faith Rogers, who claimed he intentionally infected her with an STD, which he denied.
He then released a song called I Admit, in which he confessed to being unfaithful and his own experience of abuse - but denied accusations of paedophilia and operating a sex cult.
And what about that documentary?
Over six hour-long episodes, the documentary Surviving R. Kelly presented a comprehensive and utterly horrifying look at the allegations against him.
It featured stark testimony from his accusers and his enablers, and showed parents trying to rescue daughters they hadn’t seen in years.
‘That's the way it was,’ said his former tour manager Demetrius Smith. ‘We worked for him. This is what he wanted and so this is what we were supposed to give him.’
Kelly is then dropped by his record label and charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, to which he pleads not guilty. Prosecutors later file an additional 11 charges of sexual assault and abuse against a minor aged between 13 and 16.
In 2019, Kelly's own daughter denounced him, and said she stood with his accusers.
So, how did the most recent trial come about?
After yet more charges levelled against him, Kelly ended up facing criminal cases in three US states and, in August 2019, was denied bail on the grounds that he posed a flight risk and could be capable of witness tampering.
The trial was delayed by six months after prosecutors seized over 100 electronic devices from a storage facility belonging to Kelly, and added yet another victim to the list of allegations.
In August 2020, three of Kelly’s associates were charged with witness tampering, by offering money and threatening to release explicit photos of victims. One woke up to find her car on fire in her driveway.
The trial finally took place in the late summer of 2021.
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