Musician R. Kelly Faces Sexual Assault Charges
On Friday, Feb. 22, the R&B celebrity, Robert Kelly, was charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse in Chicago. These charges date back to May of 1998, according to The Guardian.
Additionally, three of the four victims were underage, and could not give legal consent at the time of the assault. He was released from jail after posting the bail of $100,000, and entered a non-guilty plea in response to the charges.
The New York Times stated that these charges came after the scrutiny Kelly faced after the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” which included testimonies from several women who accused him of sexual abuse. After this documentary, law enforcement in Illinois and Georgia, where he lived, began looking into this misconduct.
Robert Kelly has dealt with these kinds of charges in the past. In 2008, Kelly was acquitted of 21 child pornography charges, and within the past 20 years, he was accused of sexual assault by numerous women but has only been seen in front of a judge once. NPR reported that Kelly was aquitted of the 21 pornography charges because his lawyers argued successfully that the victim could not be identified. The girl and her family did not testify, however, 14 witnesses identified the girl.
Additionally, this trial was pushed back for six years by Kelly’s lawyers as he continued to make music. Another aspect of Kelly’s sexual misconduct includes his annulled marriage in which his “wife’s” age on the wedding certificate was 18, when in reality she was 15. In addition, women have accused Kelly in the past as brainwashing girls as young as 14, and displaying violent and controlling behavior over them, as reported by The Guardian.
In 2017, a music journalist wrote an article for Buzzfeed News describing Kelly’s “cult-like” relationships with women. The charges against the singer are long awaited after years of this abuse. Last year the campaign #muteRKelly aimed to put pressure on companies that continued to work with Kelly such as Spotify and Apple Music.
Other movements such as #MeToo, have helped victims feel more open to sharing their experiences with sexual abuse. These movements have helped empower victims as well as shed light on the misconduct of celebrities, specifically Kelly. They apply pressure to different companies to reconsider who they support, an example of this proving successful was after the “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary was released. RCA Records dropped Kelly’s contract two weeks later.
Kelly’s attorney reported that his client’s finances were “a mess” and that “he really doesn’t have any money” which could be a result of the boycott of his music. Kelly has continued to deny any misconduct and even recorded a song professing his innocence with the lyrics “I’m so falsely accused.”
Michael Avenatti, a celebrity lawyer, is representing clients related to the allegations and has stated that he will be submitting video evidence of the sexual misconduct to authorities over the next few days. Kelly’s next court date is set for March 22.