R. Kelly, the R&B superstar known for his anthem "I Believe I Can Fly," was convicted Monday in a sex trafficking trial after decades of avoiding criminal responsibility for numerous allegations of misconduct with young women and children. A jury of seven men and five women found Kelly guilty on all counts, which NPR reports included sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, kidnapping, racketeering, and sex trafficking involving six victims. He faces 10 years to life. NPR describes the singer as being "sat absolutely" as the jury foreperson spoke.
Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, has been jailed without bail since in 2019. In the trial that started on Aug. 18, prosecutors painted the 54-year-old singer as a pampered man-child and control freak, reports the AP. His accusers said they were under orders to call him "Daddy," expected to jump and kiss him anytime he walked into a room, and to cheer only for him when he played pickup basketball games, in which they said he was a ball hog. The accusers alleged that they also were ordered to sign nondisclosure forms and were subjected to threats and punishments such as violent spankings if they broke what one referred to as "Rob’s rules."
Among the other more troubling tableaus: Kelly keeping a gun by his side while he berated one of his accusers as a prelude to forcing her to give him oral sex in a Los Angeles music studio; Kelly giving several alleged victims herpes without disclosing he had an STD; Kelly coercing a teen boy to join him for sex with a naked girl who emerged from underneath a boxing ring in his garage; and Kelly shooting a shaming video of one alleged victim showing her smearing feces on her face as punishment for breaking his rules. The New York case is only part of the legal peril facing the singer. He also has pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota. Trial dates in those cases have yet to be set. (More R. Kelly stories.)
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