Back in March, R. Kelly granted an interview to Gayle King and it went… poorly. He stood up and got in Gayle’s face, he ranted and raved and cried on command, all because at long last, he was facing some consequences for his decades of rape, battery, imprisonment, assault, coercion and emotional abuse of dozens of girls and women. I imagine someone on his team thought that Gayle King might be the most sympathetic person to conduct the first interview after he was charged with ten counts of assault back in January. If anything, the interview solidified public opinion: R. Kelly belongs in jail for a very long time. And now it looks like R. Kelly is facing even more charges, charges which, if convicted, could send him to jail for the rest of his life.
R. Kelly’s been hit with a slew of sexual assault and various abuse charges in Illinois … 11 felonies total. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office filed these new charges Thursday — 5 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, 4 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and 2 counts of criminal sexual assault.
According to the legal docs … Kelly’s accused of committing an act of sexual penetration on a victim listed as “J.P.” by the use of force or threat of force sometime in January 2010. The docs say J.P. was under the age of 18 at the time of the offense, and 3 of Kelly’s sex abuse charges are listed as related to alleged victims between the ages of 13 and 16. Kelly will reportedly be back in court next week to be arraigned on the new charges.
His crisis manager, Darrell Johnson, tells TMZ … Kelly maintains his innocence and denies all accusations brought against him in the latest charges. He also says he believes J.P. is Kelly accuser Jerhonda Pace. As you know … Kelly is already facing 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse in Cook County — and all of that is just the tip of the iceberg for his legal troubles. As we’ve reported, there are 3 federal probes underway — 1 in the Northern District of Illinois and 2 in New York’s Eastern and Southern Districts.
A federal grand jury has already been convened in Illinois, and has heard testimony from alleged victims who say the singer and his camp transported them across state lines for sex when they were underage.
I remember when all of the investigations started happening on Bill Cosby and my feeling at the time was “nothing will come of this.” But Cosby ended up charged, tried and convicted and now he’s in jail. I never had a similar “nothing will come of this” feeling when everyone turned on R. Kelly though – it always felt like once the first few dominos fell, R. Kelly was going to be completely done. I’m glad to see that everything is moving pretty quickly on this, and I sincerely hope there are no statute of limitation issues on the crimes.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Good. Although it must have been heartbreaking for the victims and their families to wait so long wondering if the cogs of justice would ever turn at all.
Put him under the jail. Can’t believe it took this long.
Please throw him, (possibly) Drake, and Chris Brown in Bill Cosby’s cell and throw away the key. We waited too long to put this slimeball away because he was a commercial asset to a record company. Those record execs can go to jail too.
Drake might have had a creepy moment or two, but he isn’t a rapist. I know someone who has dated him and while I don’t think he’s a great boyfriend, he knows the meaning of the word “no”.
I should add: if any information to the contrary comes out, I will one hundred per cent be done with Drake. But currently, with the information I have, I do not think he is nearly on par with a serial rapist or a GF abuser.
It’s insane that it’s taken this long, people have known what he was doing for years and years. All that inaction just led to more victims.
I hope they lock him up and throw away the key.
I really wish they would revoke his bail and stick his sorry ass behind bars where it belongs. Tragically, while he remains at large in the world , vulnerable young women will remain within his reach.
#jailrkellynow
Surprised it has taken this long.
Recently had a family member from Chicago in town and she said that when she was in high school one of her friends was sleeping with him regularly. He has been so brazen for such a long time.
Super gross! He has preyed on young women for 30 years! Lock him up!
He used schools like pick-up bars. He’d go work with school choirs and hand out his phone number to teen girls. So vile. He has a lot to be held accountable for.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. While I’m happy the wheels of justice are turning and I don’t mean to take anything away from that, I can’t help but wonder if this would be happening if R. Kelly was still rich. I mean, he’s financially broke, right? It’s interesting he’s finally being held accountable for his sexual abuse at the same time his financial problems are being revealed.
P.S. Does he still believe he can fly?
Yeah, the timing is suspicious. Now that he’s basically not an asset to the record company (no new albums, fairly recent documentary preventing him from gaining new fans), they stop protecting him. It’s bullshit. The man is a rapist and a pedophile. Shame on all of those corrupt record execs who were willing to protect him as long as they benefited from it.
One part of me says how long will this go on and the other part says that it is essential to dig out every single crime and bring it to light. It is hard on the victims and families, though.
He is slime. Throw the book at him.
It’s way, way past time. Kudos to those who never gave up on those girls and kept after him, even when it seemed justice was impossibly out of reach.
He seems like the type of man-child that has no plans to ever face consequences for anything he’s done. I’m betting he finds a way out before he ever gets sentenced.
He should have been in prison sixty years ago. God he is awful.
I hope he goes away like Bill Cosby.
I have a good feeling he will.