The Online Newspaper of Lakewood High School

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    R. Kelly

    R.+Kelly

    Robert Sylvester Kelly has been accused of sexual assault since the 1990s, but today we are faced with a documentary and many more detailed accusations. The six-part documentary, Surviving R. Kelly, has caused quite the stir of emotions in the music industry, oddly enough since R. Kelly has not managed to release a hit since “Ignition”.

    In a recent interview with Gayle King on CBS, R. Kelly gets emotional enough to yell over King’s face, get out of his chair and has to pause the interview to calm down off camera. When confronted with the question of if he has ever had sexual relations with any person under the age of 17, Kelly denies. Interestingly enough, his illegal marriage to 15-year-old Aaliyah in 1994, and the subsequent release of her album (which he produced) called Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number, leads many to believe they had relations.

    This fact alone is enough to question R. Kelly’s judgment and morals, but even more so are the charges against him in court: currently facing 10 counts of criminal sexual abuse on 4 different victims.  Shocking? Not really. In 2002, R. Kelly was indicted on 21 counts of child pornography in court and, after posting bail, continued to headline shows and snag 6 Grammy nominations before his overall acquittal in 2008. The media, however, largely ignored the dark cloud surrounding Kelly and continued to see him as a viable piece of the music industry.

    Declan Rohrs says,”I’ve never listened to his music, but I saw part of the interview and he probably did it.”

    The documentary, court case and history showcases a painful truth that we’ve all been ignoring: Robert Sylvester Kelly is a dangerous predator, who actually believes he’s done nothing wrong.

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