R Kelly’s ex-tour manager bribed official for fake ID so singer could marry 15-year-old Aaliyah, court hears
R Kelly’s former tour manager bribed a government official to get the then-15-year-old singer Aaliyah a fake ID card so Kelly could secretly marry her “to protect him and Aaliyah”, a court has heard.
Demetrius Smith told a jury at Kelly‘s sex-trafficking trial that he went into a welfare office in Chicago in 1994 and asked an employee who was taking ID photos if they “want to make some money” before handing over $500.
He said he was confident the bribe would work because “everybody needs some money”, he added.
R&B singer Aaliyah worked with Kelly in the 1990s but the pair split after allegations he married her, aged 15. Pic: AP
The welfare card was one of two fake IDs used to allow the R&B artist to marry Aaliyah after he began a sexual relationship with her and believed she was pregnant.
A marriage licence listed Aaliyah as 18, while Kelly was 27 at the time.
Prosecutors say that Kelly wanted to use the marriage – later annulled by Aaliyah’s parents – to protect himself from criminal charges relating to having sex with a minor and prevent the singer from testifying against him.
Aaliyah and Kelly worked together at the start of her career and Kelly produced and wrote her debut single, Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number, in 1994.
She later died in a plane crash aged 22 in 2001.
Demetrius Smith was forced to testify against his will after being given immunity from future charges
Kelly, 54, is charged in the bribery scheme as part of a racketeering case accusing him of sexually abusing several women, girls and boys during the course of his 30-year career.
He has continued to deny the charges, saying that his accusers were groupies who wanted to take advantage of his fame and fortune achieved through hits like I Believe I Can Fly.
Mr Smith, who was forced to testify against his will after being given immunity from future charges, repeatedly told the judge he was uneasy about taking the stand, but did not give a specific reason.
R Kelly has always denied the charges against him
However, after further questioning from the judge, he revealed how Kelly came to him during a 1994 tour and told him Aaliyah was “in trouble” and that he needed to get home.
Mr Smith said they rushed back to Chicago after a concert in another city so they could arrange the marriage meant “to protect him and Aaliyah”.
He said he told Kelly: “‘I know how to get her an ID’, and that’s what I did.”
Anthony Navarro, a trained audio engineer, said he spent most of his time driving visitors to and from Kelly’s home
Earlier on Friday, Anthony Navarro, another former Kelly employee, was called by the government to describe the inner workings of the Chicago-area mansion where Kelly had a recording studio and regular female visitors.
Mr Navarro said being at the mansion “was almost like the Twilight Zone“, adding that “it’s just a strange place”.
His testimony appeared to bolster the government’s claims that Kelly created an environment where women and girls faced strict rules that gave them little choice but to submit to the singer’s sexual desires.
Mr Navarro told the jury that he never witnessed Kelly sexually abuse his alleged victims but there were “girls” who would stay at his home for long stretches and could not eat or leave without the singer’s permission.
He said there were times when they wanted to leave but “couldn’t because they couldn’t get a ride or we couldn’t get ahold of Rob” to get approval.
Mr Navarro, a trained audio engineer, said he spent most of his time driving visitors to and from Kelly’s home.
He said: “Mainly it was girls who were coming to the studio.”
The trial continues.
Taylor Swift has revealed the release date for her new album, The Life Of A Showgirl.
The pop megastar announced her 12th studio album earlier this week but didn’t give many details.
Now, in social media posts and an appearance on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s sports podcast, Swift revealed just what fans can expect from the new album.
Taylor Swift and boyfriend Travis Kelce on the New Heights podcast. Pic: New Heights
The Life of Showgirl, written during the European leg of her record-breaking Eras tour, will be released on 3 October.
It consists of 12 songs, including the title track that features pop star Sabrina Carpenter.
The full track list is:
1. The Fate Of Ophelia
2. Elizabeth Taylor
3. Opalite
4. Father Figure
5. Eldest Daughter
6. Ruin The Friendship
7. Actually Romantic
8. Wi$h Li$t
9. Wood
10. Cancelled!
11. Honey
12. The Life Of A Showgirl (featuring Sabrina Carpenter)
Long-time collaborators Max Martin and Shellback, two Swedish producers who worked with Swift on some of her biggest hits, joined the pop star for this album.
Within four hours of posting the full podcast episode on YouTube, it had already gathered 4.7m views.
The cover of Taylor Swift’s newly announced album. Pic: Republic Records
The back cover of Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album The Life Of A Showgirl. Pic: Republic Records
‘The hardest-working star in pop’
The album follows last year’s The Tortured Poets Department, which was released during the Eras tour.
That tour, with shows on five continents and in 51 cities, raked in more than $2.2bn (£1.62bn) and was the highest-grossing tour of all time.
Read more about Taylor Swift:
Swift’s final London show was the ‘best’
The impact of the ‘excruciating’ Era’s tour
Her new chart record
“This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,” Swift said during her podcast appearance.
Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow said after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.
Disgraced US film producer Harvey Weinstein is to be tried for a third time in a sexual assault case.
A jury in New York could not reach a verdict in June against the 73-year-old who was accused of raping actress Jessica Mann, and a mistrial was declared.
Judge Curtis Farber has said he wants the new trial to happen before the end of this year.
The same jury found Weinstein guilty in June of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and not guilty of assaulting Polish former runway model Kaja Sokola the same year.
Weinstein will be sentenced for the guilty verdict in Ms Haley’s case on 30 September.
He denied all of the charges. Throughout the retrial, his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were “transactional” and “consensual,” and labelled the women as opportunists.
Weinstein was originally convicted of rape and criminal sexual act by the same court in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes.
Last year, however, New York’s highest court overturned the conviction, prompting Weinstein’s retrial this summer.
Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood – the co-founder of film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, who produced films such as the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction, and The Crying Game.
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In 2017, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him propelled the #MeToo movement.
Some of those accusations later led to criminal charges and his convictions in New York and California.
Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He has also denied this charge.
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