Everybody knew the allegations against R Kelly – so why has it taken 30 years to get justice?
R Kelly’s trial was the culmination of decades of accusations, pointing to a predator hiding in plain sight.
Rumours and allegations about the now disgraced R&B singer date back to almost the beginning of his career – and yet, he rose to become a chart-topper, a Grammy winner, an artist who filled arenas and collaborated with huge stars; at his height, one of the biggest recording acts in the world.
The criminal details of his marriage to Aaliyah in 1994, when she was 15 and he was 27 – now detailed in open court, a former tour manager admitting he bribed an official to get a fake ID in order for the ceremony to go ahead – had always been a well-known secret. And in 2002, Kelly was charged with 21 counts of making indecent images of children. After years of delays to his trial, the singer was acquitted, but the allegations never went away.
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R Kelly ‘will appeal’ sex abuse charges
Claims made over the years were silenced and brushed over, by an industry that wanted to keep the money rolling in, and fans who did not want to believe Kelly could have committed the crimes he was accused of. The world wanted to hear his music, so his unknown accusers were easy to ignore.
In the end, it was a documentary series, Surviving R Kelly, released in 2019, that became the catalyst for the singer’s trial in New York, and ultimately led to him being found guilty of all nine charges brought against him – one charge of racketeering and eight counts of violating a law which prohibits transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
For Jim DeRogatis, a journalist and music critic who wrote his first investigative report on Kelly for the Chicago Sun-Times in December 2000, with details of an allegation made against the singer dating back to 1991, it has been a long time coming.
“I always felt like I was late to the story when my partner at the Sun-Times, Abdon Pallasch, and I did the first investigative report,” he tells Sky News. “It had been going on already for nine years. We never thought when that paper came out… that this would still be ongoing in 2021.”
Just over a year later, DeRogatis was anonymously sent a videotape. “There was a manila envelope with a VHS cassette,” he says. “No markings on either.” The contents of the tape, he says, were horrifying. “Twenty-six minutes and 39 seconds showed Kelly very clearly having sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl, urinating in her mouth at one point.”
The tape led to the 2002 charges and the delayed trial in 2008. But Kelly was acquitted and continued to prey on young girls.
“He thought he was untouchable,” says DeRogatis. “There was a hubris, an ego there… He was silencing victims with money.” The most shocking thing about the case, he says, is the timeframe, and how Kelly was allowed to get away with what he was doing because of his fame.
R Kelly was once one of the biggest music stars in the world
“During that time, he’s selling 100 million albums – of his own, and [records and songs] he produced for everyone from Whitney Houston and Celine Dion to Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. This was a cash machine for the music industry that was well aware of his behaviour and never actually acted to stop it.”
DeRogatis never stopped his reporting, helping to tell the stories of 48 different accusers over the past 21 years. But it was Surviving R Kelly that finally got people listening, he says.
“There were police officers who valiantly tried to stop his predatory behaviour. But, you know, until Surviving R Kelly brought these women into people’s living rooms in America, and they saw woman after woman after woman; 12 different women appeared on camera, telling their stories. They cannot all be liars.”
So why did justice take so long?
Kenyette Tisha Barnes, the co-founder of the #MuteRKelly movement – launched in 2017 to make calls to boycott the singer’s music and shows, and “hold accountable those who allowed this behaviour to go on for so long” – says the answer is simple: “Because these were young black girls from inner-city Chicago.”
It has taken movements such as #MeToo and Time’s Up, as well as #MuteRKelly, to get to this point, she says.
“I was a big R Kelly fan many years ago, in the ’90s. And I remember the stories. I started to hear about Aaliyah and the other young ladies, and they were always young black girls.
“I was a black girl, I’m a black woman in this country. And I’ve watched the way the entertainment industry, our whole community, maligned these young women for years. And enough was just enough.”
R Kelly is also facing sex abuse charges brought in Illinois and Minnesota – to which he has also pleaded not guilty
DeRogatis agrees it was a “problem of race”, saying: “What the 48 women whose stories I’ve told in the last 21 years have all said to me is that nobody matters less in America than young black girls. They are simply not believed, and women in general are not believed about a sexual abuse story. But black girls in particular.”
For Kelly, who last released a studio album in 2016, the guilty verdict in New York is not the end of his legal troubles; he is facing further sex abuse charges brought in Illinois and Minnesota – to which he has also pleaded not guilty.
So if the trials go ahead, there could be more allegations against the singer to come. And thanks to this first trial in New York, the spotlight is now also firmly on those who at best turned a blind eye; at worst, enabled him.
Charging the singer with racketeering meant prosecutors set out to show him as the leader of “an enterprise” where “managers, bodyguards, drivers, personal assistants and runners” were all complicit in recruiting women and girls for sex with him.
DeRogatis says there are others who should be facing charges and Barnes agrees that while Kelly was “at the top of the pyramid”, there is still “a lot of blame to go around”.
“Number one, it’s R Kelly,” she says. “Number two, it’s the people who enabled it. It’s the producers, the promoters, the runners, the people in his camp who were more interested in being aligned with a superstar than actually protecting black girls.
“And then we go further: it’s the black community. We’re all complicit. If you’ve ever played an R Kelly song, you’re complicit. If you’ve ever watched that videotape, you’re complicit. I think we have to unpack that reality that we all allowed this man to just move in the most predatory ways.”
“The racketeering statute is generally used against mob bosses and drug kingpins,” says DeRogatis. “We only have one person indicted. How are you a criminal enterprise if no one else in your alleged enterprise is being held to account?”
A judge has postponed sentencing in Donald Trump’s hush money case and granted permission for his lawyers to seek a dismissal.
It comes after the Manhattan district attorney said he wouldn’t oppose a motion to delay the sentencing.
In May, a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to commit election fraud.
It was the first time a US president had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offence.
Trump had tried to cover up “hush money” payments to a porn star in the days before the 2016 election.
When Stormy Daniels‘ claims of a sexual liaison threatened to upend his presidential campaign, Trump directed his lawyer to pay $130,000 (£102,000) to keep her quiet.
The payment buried the story and he later won the presidency.
Trump denied the charges and said the case was politically motivated. He also denied the sexual encounter took place.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan today delayed the sentencing, which had been due to take place on Tuesday.
The New York case revolved around payments to Stormy Daniels. Pic: AP
The office of district attorney Alvin Bragg had asked the judge to postpone all proceedings until Trump finishes his four-year presidency, which starts on 20 January.
Trump’s lawyers say the case should be dismissed because it will create “unconstitutional impediments” to his ability to govern.
Responding to Friday’s decision, a Trump campaign spokesman said: “The American People have issued a mandate to return him to office and dispose of all remnants of the Witch Hunt cases.”
The judge set a 2 December deadline for Trump’s lawyers to file their motion, while prosecutors have until 9 December to respond.
He did not set a new date for sentencing or indicate when he would rule on any motion to throw out the case.
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Even before Trump’s win in this month’s election, experts said a jail term was unlikely and a fine or probation more probable.
But his resounding victory over Kamala Harris made the prospect of time behind bars or probation even less likely.
Trump, 78, was also charged last year in three other cases.
One involved him keeping classified documents after he left office and the other two centre on alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
A Florida judge dismissed the documents case in July, the Georgia election case is in limbo, and the Justice Department is expected to wind down the federal election case as it has a policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump last week nominated his lawyers in the hush money case, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, for senior roles in the Justice department.
When he re-enters the White House, Trump will also have the power to shut down the Georgia and New York cases.
US
Pam Bondi: Key proponent of Trump’s false 2020 election claims set to head justice department after Gaetz withdrawal
Donald Trump has pledged for years to surround himself with ultra-loyalists who can mould his government to his vision without barriers.
That’s precisely why he picked Matt Gaetz. Now he’s out, Pam Bondi is in and she’s equally loyal.
Gaetz was uniquely unpopular on Capitol Hill but ultra-MAGA and ultra-loyal to the president-elect.
He was chosen by the president-elect to do his bidding inside the Justice Department as attorney general.
Critics called his pick “a red alert moment for democracy” and the man a “gonzo agent of chaos” – language that would surely only affirm Trump’s decision in his own proudly disruptive mind.
Matt Gaetz has withdrawn despite Trump putting him forward for attorney general. Pic: AP
If it wasn’t for the fact that the president-elect is himself a convicted felon, and a man found liable in a civil court of his own sexual offences, the prospect of Gaetz, with all his baggage, making it through the nomination process would have seemed remote.
But Donald Trump’s return to the White House suggested anything is possible.
And so, beyond his loyalty, Gaetz was Trump’s test for his foot soldiers on Capitol Hill. How loyal were they? Would they wave through anyone he appointed?
It turns out that Gaetz, and the storm around his private life, was too much for a proportion of them.
At least five Senate Republicans were flatly against Matt Gaetz’s confirmation. We understand that they communicated to other senators and those close to Trump that they were unlikely to be swayed.
They included the Republican old guard like Senator Mitch McConnell.
Beyond the hard “no” senators, there were between 20 and 30 other Republicans who were very uncomfortable about having to vote for Gaetz on the Senate floor.
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Trump pick Matt Gaetz withdraws
The key question is whether Gaetz was Trump’s intentional wild card crazy choice that he knew, deep down, would probably never fly.
Was Gaetz the candidate he had accepted would be vetoed by senators – who would then feel compelled to wave the rest of his nominees through?
Will Pete Hegseth’s alleged sexual impropriety concern them as they consider the suitability of the former Fox News host and army major to run the Department of Defence?
What about Tulsi Gabbard, the candidate Russian state TV calls ‘our girl’, and the appropriateness of her running America’s intelligence agencies?
These are all appointments that the politicians on Capitol Hill must consider and confirm in the weeks ahead.
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We don’t yet know who Trump will choose to direct the FBI.
There are some names being floated which will make the establishment of Washington shudder but then that’s precisely why Trump was elected. He is the disrupter. He said so at every rally, on repeat.
He was quick to pivot to another name to replace Gaetz.
Bondi is the former attorney general of Florida. Professionally she is in a different league to Gaetz. She’s been a tough prosecutor, with a no-nonsense reputation.
She is also among the most loyal of loyalists. Her attachment to Trump stretches way back.
Pam Bondi speaks during a Trump rally in November 2024. Pic: Reuters
I first came across her in Philadelphia in November 2020 when she was among Trump surrogates claiming the election back then had been stolen from them by Joe Biden and the Democrats.
She was a key proponent of the false claims the election had been rigged and Trump was the rightful winner.
The court cases concluding that was all nonsense didn’t seem to convince her.
Now she is poised to head up the Department of Justice as the country’s top law enforcement official.
US
Donald Trump on day one: Pace of change ‘like nothing you’ve seen in history’, warns campaign official
Within hours of taking office, president-elect Donald Trump plans to begin rolling out policies including large-scale deportations, according to his transition team.
Sky News partner network NBC News has spoken with more than half a dozen people familiar with the executive orders that his team plans to enact.
One campaign official said changes are expected at a pace that is “like nothing you’ve seen in history”, to signal a dramatic break from President Joe Biden’s administration.
Mr Trump is preparing on day one to overturn specific policies put in place by Mr Biden. Among the measures, reported by sources close to the transition team, are:
• The speedy and large-scale deportations of illegal immigrants
• Ending travel reimbursement for military members seeking abortion care
• Restricting transgender service members’ access to gender-affirming care
But much of the first day is likely to focus on stopping illegal immigration – the centrepiece of Trump’s candidacy. He is expected to sign up to five executive orders aimed at dealing with that issue alone after he is sworn in on 20 January.
“There will without question be a lot of movement quickly, likely day one, on the immigration front,” a top Trump ally said.
“There will be a push to make a huge early show and assert himself to show his campaign promises were not hollow.”
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Donald Trump ally Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to be the next US attorney general.
But Mr Trump’s campaign pledges also could be difficult to implement.
Deporting people on the scale he wants will be a logistical challenge that could take years. Questions also remain about promised tax cuts.
Meanwhile, his pledge to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in just 24 hours would be near impossible.
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Even so, advisers based at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort or at nearby offices in West Palm Beach, Florida, are reportedly strategising about ending the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Following his decisive victory on 5 November, the president-elect has moved swiftly to build a cabinet and senior White House team.
As of Thursday, he had selected more than 30 people for senior positions in his administration, compared with just three at a similar point in his 2016 transition.
Stephen Moore, a senior economic adviser in Mr Trump’s campaign, told NBC News: “The thing to realise is Trump is no dummy.
“He knows he’s got two to three years at most to get anything done. And then he becomes a lame duck and we start talking about [the presidential election in] 2028.”
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