With hits like “I Believe I Can Fly” R. Kelly became a superstar in the 90s, but then a deep fall followed. In court he now has to answer for the sexual abuse of minors.
New York – It should have started long ago. The trial of the former pop superstar R. Kelly was originally scheduled for May 2020, but the date was postponed further and further in the corona pandemic.
The 54-year-old tried several times to use the pandemic as an opportunity to be released from custody early on bail, but these applications were repeatedly rejected. The singer has been in jail since the summer of 2019 – first in his hometown of Chicago, since June in New York – before the trial against him this Monday (August 9th) in a court in Brooklyn, New York, with the selection of the jury can finally start. The opening speeches are to follow on August 18.
The process takes several weeks
The allegations against the former world star are violent: According to the indictment, Kelly has to answer for extortion and sexual exploitation of minors, among other things. Together with a team of employees, Kelly is said to have forced girls and women to have sex for years.
The process should take several weeks. If convicted, the singer could face a decade-long prison sentence – there are also indictments of similar length against him in Chicago and Minnesota, which are to be processed after the New York trial. Kelly has repeatedly denied all allegations and accuses his critics of a character assassination campaign.
The fronts in the proceedings remained turbulent until the end: the public prosecutor brought new allegations against the singer a few weeks before the start of the trial. Kelly had put on weight in prison and almost ran out of money, the defense team added – which also had open disagreements and substitutions.
And there were complaints from some media representatives that initially no journalists were allowed in the courtroom. Due to the corona pandemic, only the jury and participants from the two trial parties are allowed to be present, judge Ann Donnelly had ordered. For everyone else, live broadcasts would be made available to other courtrooms.
First allegations 25 years ago
The first allegations against Robert Sylvester Kelly, born in Chicago in 1967, were known about 25 years ago. But the music colossus seemed unassailable on its pop throne – with more than 50 million albums sold, several Grammys and other awards, he was one of the most successful musicians of the late 20th century.
His short marriage, which was later annulled, with the then 15-year-old singer Aaliyah in the mid-1990s was initially criticized only behind closed doors, and further reports about relationships with minors were largely ignored.
Several lawsuits for sexual intercourse with minors have been settled out of court, and Kelly was acquitted in a trial for possession of pictures of serious child sexual abuse. But then it gathered around 2017 – at the same time as the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment emerged.
Kelly’s second wife Andrea, with whom he was married between 1996 and 2009, makes serious accusations against her ex-husband. He had abused her emotionally, physically and sexually, and she feared for her life in marriage. There were also reports that the singer was practicing a “sex cult”, holding young women on several properties and forcing them to have sex.
„Surviving R. Kelly“
The sensational documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” summed it all up at the beginning of 2019. In it, singer colleague John Legend also had a say, who sharply criticized himself and the entire music industry: “We looked the other way for too long.”
More and more stars then distanced themselves from Kelly, as well as radio stations, streaming services and finally his music label RCA, which belongs to Sony Music. In the summer of 2019, Kelly was finally arrested in Chicago when the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer was walking his dog “Believe”.
Now the musician, who last released an album in 2016, should have several long processes ahead of him. Followers of the #MeToo movement would like to see him behind bars – like, at least temporarily, actor Bill Cosby and former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. dpa
