Singer R. Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. In September the singer was convicted of racketeering and eight violations of the Mann Act, which makes it illegal to transport people across state lines for “immoral purposes.”
Famous for hit songs like “Ignition” and “I Believe I Can Fly,” Kelly has long been accused of being a sexual predator. At the age of 27, he married a 15-year-old Aaliyah, and an infamous tape shows him allegedly urinating on a teenage girl. He made no secret of the fact that he was attracted to very young women; in 2008 he (barely) dodged an interview question about the matter and admitted to having teenage “friends.” Since then, multiple women have come forward with horrific accounts of grooming, assault, abuse, control, and manipulation, some of which were featured in the 2019 Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly. In response, Kelly defended himself in an interview with Gayle King, but while he denied the allegations, his behavior and demeanor during the interview led many to see him as threatening and possibly unstable.
In a letter to the judge, Kelly’s lawyer asked for a sentence of less than 10 years, writing that the defendant was “not an evil monster but a complex (unquestionably flawed) human-being who faced overwhelming challenges in childhood that shaped his adult life,” including sexual abuse as a child.
Federal prosecutors, however, recommended at least 25 years, writing, “Given the breadth of the defendant’s conduct and its continuity over a period of decades, the government has little doubt that if afforded an opportunity to offend again, the defendant would do so.” (Quotations per BuzzFeed’s reporting.)
At the sentencing, Kelly was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine. According to the Associated Press, he is also facing child pornography and obstruction of justice charges in Chicago; that trial is scheduled to begin August 15.
