A Summary of R. Kelly’s Involvement in the News
R. Kelly has been a popular topic recently which some say was sparked by the release of “Surviving R. Kelly”, a documentary series based on the allegations against Kelly. To further understand this story, some background information on this topic is necessary.
The first controversial allegation against Kelly goes back to 1994 when news broke out that Kelly had married fellow musician Aliyah who at the time was 15. Allegations also state that the certificate falsely listed her age as 18. The marriage was quickly annulled. Two years later in 1996 Tiffany Hawkins filed a suit against Kelly for personal injuries as well as emotional damage resulted from her claimed relationship with Kelly which began when she was 15 and he was 24. This was later settled outside of court.
In 2000 Chicago Sun-Times publishes this story as well as the marriage between Kelly and Aliyah. Kelly declined to comment on this story. Following this story’s release, other women came forward claiming they had sexual relations with Kelly while they were underage. This included Tracy Sampson, a former intern at Kelly’s record company, who claimed she had sexual relations with Kelly and a group of other teenagers at the age of 17. Kelly denied all allegation and states, “It’s crap, and that’s how we’re going to treat it”. As this was happening, the Chicago Sun-Times received two sex tapes sent anonymously and they turned them over to police. Tracy Sampson and the other three women who came forward settled with Kelly. Sampson is said to have settled for $250,000.
Following these allegations, Kelly is sued by Patrice Jones who claims she had a sexual relationship with Kelly when she was 16 eventually resulting in a pregnancy. She is also claiming Kelly coerced her into terminating. Kelly and his team countered this claim by stating the suit was “a collection of half-truths, distortions, and outright lies”.
The following allegation came from 33-year-old Tina Woods who claimed she was secretly videotaped while having sexual intercourse with Kelly as she was one of the women on the exposed tapes. Kelly’s team responded to the allegations by stating Woods is “piling on” to the other allegations and she is a “grown woman”.
As the police investigate Kelly for the videos turned over to them, they charge him with 21 counts of child pornography in 2002. Kelly pleads not guilty and claims it is not him in the videos. One month later Kelly is arrested for an additional 12 counts of child pornography after photographs were found in his home. The judge later decides the photographs were illegally taken from his home and the charges are dropped.
Skipping ahead to 2008, Kelly was found not guilty due to the alleged girl on the tape denying testifying and the jury not being able to identity the girl on the tape. After the case, Kelly was out of the news until 2017 when Buzzfeed releases an exposé which claimed Kelly is running a “cult” type of environment with young girls.
Around this same time, Kelly sat down with HuffPost Live for an interview regarding the past allegations. Kelly denies all allegations and when asked about the fans who are questioning him he replies, “F**k that, I have a lot of fans around the world who love R. Kelly”. He later walks out of this interview due to the multiple questions regarding the allegations. Soon after, two more women came forward with allegations similar to others, and Kelly denied both allegations.
The documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly” was released in January 2019. This series has sparked a new investigation of Kelly. On February 22nd, Kelly was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse which dates back to 1998; three of the four women were allegedly underage. Kelly’s attorney responded by stating Kelly was “shellshocked” and “disappointed and depressed” over these “baseless charges”.
Since then, Kelly has not responded to two of the lawsuits against him as he claims he is illiterate and could not read the first lawsuit. He also has gotten second lawsuit reinstated due to him being in jail when he was served and was not able to read. Kelly has been struggling financially which has resulted in him having troubles paying his child support and bonds. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all charges and awaits his trial.
Works Cited
Cbs/ap. (2019, May 08). Judgment against R. Kelly withdrawn after singer's lawyers say he's illiterate. Retrieved May 10, 2019, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/r-kelly-judgment-withdrawn-today-after-singers-lawyers-say-hes-illiterate-2019-05-08/
Chow, A. (2019, March 08). A Full Timeline of R. Kelly Sexual Abuse Allegations. Retrieved May 10, 2019, from http://time.com/5546990/r-kelly-timeline/
DeRogatis, J. (2019, February 24). R. Kelly Is Holding Women Against Their Will In An Abusive "Cult," Parents Told Police. Retrieved May 10, 2019, from https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jimderogatis/parents-told-police-r-kelly-is-keeping-women-in-a-cult
DeROGATIS, J., & Pallasch, A. (n.d.). Kelly accused of sex with teenage girls. Retrieved May 10, 2019, from http://web.archive.org/web/20080516005806/http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/kelly/939951,kellya.article
France, L. (2019, January 11). R. Kelly scandal: A timeline. Retrieved May 10, 2019, from https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/10/entertainment/r-kelly-timeline/index.html
NME. (2009, March 04). R KELLY FIGHTS THIRD UNDERAGE SEX SUIT. Retrieved May 10, 2019, from https://www.nme.com/news/music/r-kelly-96-1380587#uyAHXpAIKmtJkPdO.99
Vineyard, J. (2002, February 26). Alleged R. Kelly Sex Tape Shows Up Online. Retrieved May 10, 2019, from http://www.mtv.com/news/1452603/alleged-r-kelly-sex-tape-shows-up-online/
R. Kelly storms out of interview - CNN Video. (2015, December 22). Retrieved May 10, 2019, from https://www.cnn.com/videos/entertainment/2015/12/22/r-kelly-huff-post-live-walk-out-interview-orig-vstan.cnn
R. Kelly due in court after turning himself in to police. (2019, February 23). Retrieved May 10, 2019, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/r-kelly-indicted-charged-10-counts-aggravated-criminal-sexual-abuse-today-cook-county-court-press-conference-2019-02-22-live-updates/
Vineyard, J. (2002, May 31). R. Kelly Sued By Woman Claiming To Be Sex Tape Subject. Retrieved May 10, 2019, from http://www.mtv.com/news/1454932/r-kelly-sued-by-woman-claiming-to-be-sex-tape-subject/
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