r kelly
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A few of R. Kelly’s victims who participated in the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries were subjected to all kinds of threats for exposing the self-proclaimed “R&B thug” and now a judge has decided to award them some monetary compensation for their troubles.
According to documents obtained by TMZ, six of the “I Wish” singer’s victims will be awarded a total of $10.5 million dollars straight from the pockets of R. Kelly and his manager, Donnell Russell, after successfully suing them for shutting down the 2018 screening of Surviving R. Kelly in New York City.
TMZ reports:
They alleged the defendants waged a campaign, starting back in May 2018, to intimidate the women, A&E/Lifetime and the producers to stop screening the docuseries. When those efforts, including legal threats, failed … they claimed Kelly’s camp called producers on the night of the NYC screening and said someone was “going to shoot up the place.”
The fake mass shooting threat worked, as the event was shut down — and according to the victims, it all opened up past trauma and resulted in them suffering PTSD and panic attacks.
Apparently, R. Kelly and his peoples didn’t want the public to hear his victims’ side of their story and will now have to pay dearly for it. Each of the six women will be compensated with a little more than $1 million each for their pain and suffering, but whether or not they’ll ever see a penny of that money is anyone’s guess as Kelly isn’t exactly rolling in it like he was in his very abundant heyday.
Though his music is still generating $500,000 in royalties from Universal Music Group to this day, who knows how long it will take for each woman to get their proper compensation.
What do y’all think of the judge’s decision? Too much or too little? Let us know in the comments section below.
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If R. Kelly lives to see the light of day again, his bank account will be severely light on funds, deservingly so because the Pied Piper of R&Pee has to pay back the victims of his crimes.
Spotted on TMZ Hip Hop, convicted rapist R. Kelly is not done paying back his victims. According to the celebrity gossip site, the “Only The Loot Can Make Me Happy” singer still owes over half a million bucks, and a judge is now hitting whatever’s left of his music royalties.
Per TMZ Hip Hop:
R. Kelly is still on the hook for more than half a million bucks in restitution to his victims — but they’ll be getting a big check soon thanks to his old hits.
According to docs, obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, a judge signed an order garnishing the embattled singer’s royalties … as it was discovered Universal Music Group is holding a bunch of his royalties.
So, the company will now cut a check to cover Kelly’s restitution bill.
UMG’s Remaining R.Kelly Royalties Will Cover The Balance
TMZ Hip Hop also reports that Kelly is on the hook for $506,950.26, and it just so happens that UMG has $567,444.19, which can definitely settle his remaining debts.That remaining cash could directly result from the people who can’t seem to let go of “Step in The Name of Love” and R. Kelly’s other songs and continue to stream them in protest of his conviction and pure heada**ery.
Before his trial, R. Kelly’s latest album “leaked” but was swiftly removed off streaming platforms, and both RCA and Sony dropped the disgraced singer/songwriter.
R. Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Chicago judge on top of the 30 years he was slapped with in his New York Case on top of the additional year he will serve in jail.
It’s a safe bet the streets will never hear or see Robert Kelly again.
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R. Kelly was once considered one of the greatest R&B singers and songwriters of his generation until scandals upended his massive stardom and all but shattered his integrity. On Twitter, an intense debate regarding separating the artist from the music kicked off over the weekend and Gunna found himself in the middle of this ongoing conversation.
R. Kelly, 56, is currently serving time for sex crimes and racketeering charges that took place in his native Chicago and in New York. The beleaguered artist still enjoys a high amount of support from fans who believe the charges levied against Kelly were exaggerated or false. Still, Kelly’s music is largely missing from the modern landscape in the wake of all his legal troubles as it should be.
A Twitter user posed an interesting thought over the weekend when @amarihanifahh asked, “So y’all can separate the music from the artist with R. Kelly but not Gunna?”
The tweet was eventually grabbed by another Twitter account and shared, which got R. Kelly trending on Twitter for the past day and a half.
The question was probably asked because another Twitter account shared the reactions of Atlanta clubgoers after the DJ inside the establishment played a song from Gunna and the entire club stopped dancing. Gunna, as most might know, has earned the unsavory reputation of being a snitch amid the ongoing YSL RICO case with his former compatriot Young Thug and others connected to the matter.
Because some people lack context clues, most missed @amarihanifahh’s point in that it’s something of a contradiction that R. Kelly fans will still play his music despite years of accounts and court evidence backing why they shouldn’t instead of Gunna, who was seemingly let go on a legal technicality and testimony that can’t be used against the alleged YSL gang members on trial. Further, there is a lot of civilian opinion on street business that at least 90 percent of Twitter doesn’t know anything about.
Check out some of the tweets below.
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R. Kelly’s legal dilemmas are getting bigger by the week. A judge has added another year to his sentence regarding his Chicago case.
As spotted on Page Six the disgraced singer got some bittersweet news this week. On Thursday (Feb. 23), U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber sentenced R. Kelly to 20 years for three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor into criminal sexual activity.
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The terms are that the sentence will run concurrently with the 30 years he is serving now for his New York state charges. In essence, he will have to serve another year after his New York bid is up.
“No matter what I do, Mr. Kelly isn’t going out the door after today,” Leinenweber said. “He’s not going out the door in the next 10 years. He’s not going out the door in the next 20 years.” The Chicago Sun-Times reports Kelly sat there “stone face” as the magistrate read the sentencing. R. Kelly’s lawyer plans to appeal the decision.
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Photo: Cook County Department of Corrections
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R. Kelly might be looking at more time than he expected. Federal prosecutors are asking that he get 25 more years behind bars.
As spotted on The Grio the disgraced singer might be looking at football numbers. The Associated Press reports that on Thursday, February 16 prosecutors asked the presiding judge to consider adding more time to the “I Believe I Can Fly” performer’s prison sentence for his crimes in Chicago. They ask that he serve the 25 after he finishes his original sentence in New York. The paperwork referred to him as “sadistic” and as “a serial sexual predator” who “poses a serious danger to society.” The filing, which was 37 pages, says “the only way to ensure Kelly does not reoffend is to impose a sentence that will keep him in prison for the rest of his life”.
Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, wrote in a filing that his current 30 year sentence does not leave with much room for a life. “Kelly would have to defy all statistical odds to make it out of prison alive” pointing to data that the average life expectancy for inmates is 64. She recommends a lesser sentence of 10 years and that it should run concurrent.
In 2022 R. Kelly was found guilty on federal charges of producing child pornography and enticing girls for sex. U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber will decide his fate for his Chicago charges. Last month Cook County Attorney Kim Foxx announced that the state of Illinois will no longer be pursuing the indictments filed back in 2019.
Photo: Cook County Department of Corrections
A Chicago federal judge has rejected R. Kelly’s bid to overturn his conviction last year on child pornography charges, clearing the way for sentencing which is scheduled for next week.
Denying motions filed by Kelly’s lawyers seeking either a new trial or an outright acquittal, Judge Harry D. Leinenweber ruled Thursday (Feb. 16) that federal prosecutors provided jurors with “enough evidence to sustain a guilty verdict on all six counts Kelly was convicted of.”
Among other arguments, Kelly’s lawyers had argued that one of his victims (known as “Jane”) gave false testimony on the witness stand about whether she planned to seek monetary restitution from Kelly if he was ultimately convicted. They said the incident suggested Jane had “motivation to share her story in ways that were not entirely honest.”
But Judge Leinenweber saw things differently: “Simply because Jane and her attorney considered the possibility of restitution, does not mean she lied during her testimony,” the judge wrote.
Following a four-week trial in Chicago federal court, Kelly was found guilty in September on three counts of child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor. He was acquitted of other charges that accused him of fixing a 2008 state-court trial over the same child pornography accusations.
That conviction came after a federal judge in New York previously sentenced Kelly to 30 years in prison in June on separate racketeering and sex trafficking convictions.
Kelly is set for sentencing on Feb. 23 on the Chicago charges. He faces as many as 90 additional years in prison on those convictions.
In seeking to overturn the conviction, Kelly’s lawyers made a number of arguments, including that the government had failed to show conclusively that the singer “enticed” Jane into making child pornography. But Judge Leinenweber ruled instead that there was “ample” evidence to support the charge.
“Jane testified about how Kelly gradually persuaded her into sexual activity with him,” the judge wrote. “Jane described how Kelly induced her into making Videos One through Three and that Kelly positioned the camera and told Jane exactly what to do and say while having sex with him.”
Thursday’s ruling is not the final decision on Kelly’s conviction. His attorneys can still challenge the outcome to a federal appeals court and eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court, though they face long odds in overturning a jury’s verdict.
Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday’s order.
Read the judge’s entire ruling here:
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R. Kelly has received some favorable news regarding his ongoing legal matters. Illinois prosecutors have dropped sexual assault charges against him.
As per Raw Story, R. Kelly is sighing a breath of relief this week. On Monday (Jan. 30), Cook County Attorney Kim Foxx announced that the state will no longer be pursuing the indictments filed back in 2019. The charges include aggravated criminal sexual abuse and assault and allegedly involved four female victims; three are said to have been underage at the time of the crimes. At a news conference, Foxx explained the reasoning behind the statement in detail.
In essence, timing played a significant role in their decision as two other federal trials took priority. “Due to the extensive sentences these convictions hold, our offices have decided not to expend our limited resources and court time with the indictments” she explained. But with this decision, some of his accusers feel their voices have been silenced.
Lanita Carter, who claims she was assaulted by R. Kelly back in February of 2003, admits she was “extremely disappointed” when she heard the charges were dropped.
“I have spent nearly 20 years hoping that my abuser would be brought to justice for what he did to me. With today’s announcement, all hope of justice for my case is gone,” Carter said in a statement to AP News.
As expected R. Kelly’s legal team agrees with the decision. Steven Greenberg spoke with ABC 7 Chicago about the matter. “In my opinion, the charges should have never been brought in the first place,” Greenberg said.
You can see the press conference below.
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Even though R. Kelly is serving time for his crimes, the world will find out more about his creepy ways. The final installment of Surviving R. Kelly premiered on Lifetime Jan. 2.
As per Variety, it seems the disgraced crooner’s ways will be the talk of the town again in 2023. The Lifetime documentary will be returning with a third and final installment. This time the series will not only give updates going into Kelly’s trial and subsequent incarceration, but also detail how he allegedly groomed younger men. Some of the other themes covered include how witnesses were intimidated, following some of the survivors post trial, as well as sourcing feedback from legal and trauma experts.
Executive producer Jesse Daniels granted the media outlet an exclusive interview on how the new episode came to be. “After part one, we said that was it. But as we continued to stay in touch with our survivors, we started to hear about the pressure and the toll of preparing for this trial and gathering the courage to take the stand” he said.
Daniels also says that the project also examines the accusations that Kelly also abused young men. “Our goal was to create a real 360-degree look at what was unfolding every day of the trial, and that certainly was a big chapter of the trial where there were male victims who testified” he explained. “It was certainly something that we had heard in the past, but not in the context of this trial. We felt obligated to tell the whole the arc of the trial and every detail that we could.”
Lastly, the film executive confirmed that R. Kelly enforced NDA’s (non-disclosure agreements) to silence his victims including the late Aaliyah. Episode one of Surviving R. Kelly Part III is available to stream.
Photo: Cook County Department of Corrections
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The R. Kelly story just got even more bizarre. Joycelyn Savage has allegedly given birth to her first child with the disgraced singer.
As reported by MadameNoire, the social media personality made a big announcement last week. On Thursday, Dec. 8 she gave birth to her daughter Ava Lee Kelly. On her Instagram post reveal she wrote “My baby girl Ava when you were born , my whole world shined so bright. I knew that it was no longer about me anymore it was about us . Though the world is cold , I promise to always protect you . I am so happy to be your mother & you bring me so much joy . 12.08.22 🎀💕”.
Earlier this year, Savage announced that she was pregnant with the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer’s child. Initially the Pied Piper’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, dismissed the claims. “There is no truth to reports that Joy is releasing a tell-all memoir and she is certainly not pregnant with R Kelly’s child. People are just insane. Carry on,” she tweeted.
Jocelyn would go on to detail how the baby came to be in her book Love and Joy of Robert. “His lawyer didn’t know that prior to him going to jail, Robert and I were doing IVF because at the time I was told I couldn’t have a baby,” she wrote. “When he got sent to prison, we paused on it and I had them freeze my eggs until I was ready.”
To hear Savage tell it, Bonjean wanted her to abort the child. “Once his lawyer did find out, she wanted me to have an abortion because she didn’t feel that now was the time for me to have a child following the 30-year sentence” she explained. “Me and Robert wanted to have a child for a long time. He is very happy about it, his lawyer isn’t. Once I told her I was keeping my baby, she didn’t want me to announce but I wanted to share the news. I’ve always been there for him even before this new lawyer came into the picture.”
In recent R. Kelly news, his legal team confirmed that the I Admit It project was pieced together by thieves who allegedly stole a large chunk of his unreleased music. You can read about it here.
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It looks like the former manager and friend of the Pied Predator of R&B will be joining his disgraced associate in spending time behind bars.
R. Kelly’s one-time manager, Donnell Russell, was sentenced to a year in federal prison Monday (Dec. 19) for calling in a shooting in order to halt Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly documentary from premiering in New York in 2018.
According to the Associated Press, Russell admitted to U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe that he had “made bad judgments” while working with the convicted sex trafficker whose entire adult life and career appears to be a string of bad (and abusive and predatory and gross) judgments.
From AP:
Russell said he reconnected with Kelly, a fellow Chicagoan he’d met decades earlier, as the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer was facing a growing series of accusations that eventually fueled Kelly’s sex trafficking and racketeering conviction last year. Russell said he set out to help Kelly with intellectual property matters that he thought could yield the performer money to pay legal bills.
But prosecutors said Russell also worked on something else: trying to suppress the abuse allegations. He tried to intimidate at least one accuser, threatened to sue over Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” series and eventually phoned in the warning that shut down the documentary’s 2018 Manhattan premiere, according to prosecutors.
The phone call claimed that someone at the event had a gun and intended to fire. The screening was canceled and the theater evacuated.
Imagine being such a dedicated protector of an abuser of Black women and girls that you’re willing to call in a terrorist threat in order to shut down a film premier where the voices of numerous alleged victims will be heard.
Gardephe said during sentencing that Russell had engaged in “serious criminal conduct” in “a misguided attempt to protect someone who was a prolific abuser.” (Sounds like the kind of thing one should spend more than a year in lockup for, but OK.)
Russell was convicted in July of threatening physical harm through interstate communication. Days later, he pleaded guilty to a federal charge of interstate stalking involving another of Kelly’s accusers. For that, a Brooklyn judge sentenced him to 20 months in prison. Russell is due to turn himself in next year and will serve both prison sentences concurrently.