Everybody knew the allegations against R Kelly – so why has it taken 30 years to get justice?

Published

4 years ago

September 27, 2021

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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.

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.

“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.”

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?”

US

Suspect who targeted fire service in ‘ambush’ shooting named as aspiring firefighter

Published

2 hours ago

July 1, 2025

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Suspect who targeted fire service in 'ambush' shooting named as aspiring firefighter

A gunman suspected of having started a fire to “ambush” firefighters in Idaho and kill them has been named as Wess Val Roley.

The 20-year-old is said to have aspired to become a firefighter before the attack on Sunday, which saw him allegedly perched in a sniper position, firing at the firefighters as they sought to put out a fire, which authorities believe he intentionally started.

Two firefighters were killed and one was injured as they came under gunfire over several hours, according to authorities.

They said the incident took place after they asked him to move his vehicle.

Roley was later found dead in the mountains with a firearm nearby.

Sky News’ US partner network NBC quoted Roley’s grandfather, Dale Roley, as saying “something must have snapped” in his grandson for him to commit such violence.

“He actually really respected law enforcement,” Mr Roley said. “He loved firefighters. It didn’t make sense that he was shooting firefighters. Maybe he got rejected or something.”

Mr Roley added: “I know he had been in contact to get a job with a fire department.

“He wanted to be part of a team that he sort of idolised.”

Bob Norris, the sheriff of Kootenai County, said on Sunday: “We do believe that the suspect started the fire.

“This was a total ambush. These firefighters did not have a chance.”

Officers said they were “taking sniper fire” near the city of Coeur d’Alene on Sunday afternoon, with crews responding to a fire at Canfield Mountain.

Mr Norris said the gunman had used high-powered sporting rifles to fire rapidly at first responders. The ambush continued for several hours.

More than 300 officers from city, county, state and federal levels responded. Two helicopters were deployed with snipers onboard.

First responders could be heard making urgent calls for help on their radios. “Everybody’s shot up here… send law enforcement now,” one dispatch said.

Later, the sheriff’s office said members of a SWAT team “located a deceased male on Canfield Mountain”, adding that a “firearm was found nearby”.

US

Trump takes aim at Fed chair Jerome Powell again and says he ‘should be ashamed’

Published

2 hours ago

July 1, 2025

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Trump takes aim at Fed chair Jerome Powell again and says he 'should be ashamed'

Donald Trump has launched his latest attack on the US central bank, saying the interest rate setters had “failed”.

Over the weekend, he said he wanted interest rates to be 1% and that he would “love” for Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, to resign.

It comes less than two weeks since he called Mr Powell a “stupid person” and said: “Maybe I should go to the Fed. Am I allowed to appoint myself at the Fed?”

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, Mr Trump said: “Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell, and his entire board, should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen to the United States.”

It was not clear what Mr Trump was referring to when referencing “this”.

“If they were doing their job properly, our country would be saving trillions of dollars in interest cost. The board just sits there and watches, so they are equally to blame,” the post read.

“We should be paying 1% interest, or better!”

A message to Mr Powell was also written on a leaderboard of countries’ interest rates, ranked from low to high, showing the US ranked 35th, coming behind the United Arab Emirates and the UK.

The Federal Reserve, known as the Fed, had held the cost of borrowing at 4.25%-4.5%. Unlike the UK, the US interest rate is a range to guide lenders rather than a single percentage.

Despite the threats from Mr Trump and from his press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who told reporters inflation was “completely diminished”, markets are not expecting a cut when the Fed next considers interest rates next month.

In fact, no reduction is currently anticipated until September.

Are interest rates really that high in the US?

Not since December last year has the rate been cut.

The Fed has expressed concern about the impact of Mr Trump’s signature economic policy of implementing new tariffs, taxes on imports to the US.

Inflation – the overall rate of price rises – has ticked up to 2.4% while the Fed said it expected further rises due to tariffs.

Interest rates have been hiked in an effort to bring inflation down to the Fed’s 2% target.

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It has meant the cost of borrowing is slightly higher than in the UK, where the Bank of England has set rates at 4.25%.

It’s also above the level of euro-using countries, where the European Central Bank has set rates at 2%.

What’s the reaction been?

Mr Powell has not retaliated, and the Fed declined to comment on Monday.

There was little market reaction as major US stock indexes had hit record highs amid hopes of trade deals with countries, rather than a return of country-specific tariffs.

Ironically, the dollar has been at a more than three-year low over worries of the US deficit expanding further with Mr Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” being voted on.

The fact that interest rate cuts could come in recent months is also contributing, as currencies tend to be supported by higher rates as they can attract foreign investment.

In the past, comments about replacing Mr Powell, appointed by President Trump in 2017, have led to concern from investors, which saw Mr Trump say he would not replace the chair before his term ends in May 2026.

US

Donald Trump says ‘very wealthy group’ has agreed to buy TikTok in the US

Published

2 hours ago

July 1, 2025

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Donald Trump says 'very wealthy group' has agreed to buy TikTok in the US

Donald Trump has said the US government has found a buyer for TikTok that he will reveal “in about two weeks”.

The president told Fox News “it’s a group of very wealthy people”, adding: “I think I’ll probably need China approval, I think President Xi will probably do it.”

TikTok was ordered last year to find a new owner for its US operation – or face a ban – after politicians said they feared sensitive data about Americans could be passed to the Chinese government.

The video app’s owner, Bytedance, has repeatedly denied such claims.

It originally had a deadline of 19 January to find a buyer – and many users were shocked when it “went dark” for a number of hours when that date came round, before later being restored.

However, President Trump has now extended the deadline several times.

The last extension was on 19 June, when he signed an executive order pushing it back to 17 September.

Mr Trump’s latest comments suggest multiple people coming together to take control of the app in the US.

Among those rumoured to be potential buyers include YouTube superstar Mr Beast, US search engine startup Perplexity AI, and Kevin O’Leary – an investor from Shark Tank (the US version of Dragons’ Den).

Bytedance said in April that it was still talking to the US government, but there were “differences on many key issues”.

It’s believed the Chinese government will have to approve any agreement.

President Trump’s interview with Fox News also touched on the upcoming end of the pause in US tariffs on imported goods.

On April 9, he granted a 90-day reprieve for countries threatened with a tariff of more than 10% to give them time to negotiate.

Deals have already been struck with some countries, including the UK.

The president said he didn’t think he would need to push back the 9 July deadline and that letters would be sent out imminently stating what tariff each country would face.

“We’ll look at the deficit we have – or whatever it is with the country; we’ll look at how the country treats us – are they good, are they not so good. Some countries, we don’t care – we’ll just send a high number out,” he said.

“But we’re going to be sending letters out starting pretty soon. We don’t have to meet, we have all the numbers.”

The president announced the tariffs in April, arguing they were correcting an unfair trade relationship and would return lost prosperity to US industries such as car-making.