The six-week trial of Robert Sylvester Kelly ended with a conviction of mostly child sex trafficking and racketeering which again divides the country especially in the Black Community with half thinking he shouldn't have been convicted (for various reason) and the other half believing justice was served.
Robert (who's stage name is R. Kelly) was convicted on 8 counts of sex trafficking and one count of racketeering. His attorneys have a few busy weeks ahead as they work to overturn the verdict but with such a strong a case, and other trials coming up like his child pornography and obstruction of justice trial in Chicago and other cities, that would be hard to accomplished.
The problem is between the testimony of the witnesses, recordings of the singer and other evidence compiled by the FBI, it's highly unlikely R. Kelly will get an acquittal as he did in 2008. Then, Federal Prosecutors accused the singer of paying off witnesses, an accusation in which relatives of the witness alleged. Now that you have a little background, time for me to say my peace.
Let me start by saying R. Kelly is not Michael Jackson or Bill Cosby. Michael was innocent thanks to two FBI investigations and Bill got convicted with zero physical evidence. There are tons of evidence against R. Kelly that would convict him without witnesses like video and documents. You just need the witnesses and victims to corroborate the video and documents. In fact, the same machine that exonerated Michael Jackson, convicted R. Kelly.
Before I move on, let me drop three more names. Comparing him to Elvis makes no sense because Priscilla Presley (Wagner at the time) was the woman he married plus, he didn't have a harem of women doing slave labor and repeated raped and put into a cult-like setting. Also, the date was 1967 (the year they married), it wasn't too uncommon for an underage girl to marry older men. Not saying it's right but don't act like that white people did that back in the day.
No. Sorry he's more like Harvey Weinstein since we like to make comparisons. Before I move back to Robert let me just throw out there, he's already been convicted of 1 count of third-degree rape, 1 count of criminal sexual assault in the first degree in 2020 with more trials pending. A full year before R. Kelly's conviction. Let me also note that Weinstein will be punished more than R. Kelly because his assaults started in the 1970s
So let's stop comparing folks especially when it comes to sexual assault. I'm sure a lot of you didn't even know about Harvey Weinstein because many of us like standing on their soapbox waiting on social media and YouTube for their next news update whether it's true or not. His conviction wouldn't have been posted outside regular media sources because that's what many choose to ignore. Also, spare me with the media never reported it because I saw it on every channel.
In fact, during his trial witnesses alleged R. Kelly compared himself to this guy, Jerry Lee Lewis, famous for his hit song "Great Balls of Fire" but also known for marrying his 13 year old cousin. That did cause an uproar which led to concert dates being cancelled. I guess there's your Aaliyah connection.
It's nice we can plant scapegoats in the court of public opinion when it's obvious this was a sick man from the beginning. Yes, he had tons of enablers who are facing their own trials and have made deals but those do not include the parents. That would have been a factor and would have weighed heavily in R. Kelly's favor. The reason being is R. Kelly was being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Their job is to dot all their I's and cross all their T's. They must make sure they have everything they need and in FBI investigation, everyone (including the victims) are questioned rigorously and given polygraph exams. The FBI's job in that case is to eliminate suspect and for whatever reason all the parents were cleared.
I personally think it's asinine to think parents gave their daughters away to be abused for a few dollars. What kind of parents do you know who do that and would you do that since you think on some level that everyone has a price? I agree yes parents knew about R. Kelly on some level when they allowed their children to spend time with the singer but you have to understand that he was also acquitted the first time not knowing the possible story of the acquittal. Many of us think that acquittal automatically means they didn't do it which is false. We in the Black Community sadly have that blaming the victim mentality bad. I even heard someone say to leave the man alone because we're too involved in that man's sex life.
By that mentality, that means parents everywhere who trusted their child's favorite teacher, bus driver, family member, or whomever is in the care of the children should be convicted as well. I'm sorry many of you lead perfect lives where this doesn't happen. I was personally never molested but I know a lot of people who were and I can empathize and sympathize.
Many of you hate being lied on. What if you were accused of enabling your child's molester. In fact, in the Black Community, this goes on in many families. The uncle/aunt or other family members who's molested family members.
We're only divided is because this man made millions of dollars and is a hit singer/songwriter. If he was Robert the bus driver, deacon or trash collector there would be no question. I personally don't care if you listen to his music or not, it's the man whom we failed. After all the Grammys won, hits written/recorded and the money made, this was a man who was never truly happy. From where I can see, he had too many enablers around him who turned the other way. Also don't think they don't have trial dates set. You'll just have to look for them on page 5-10 of the paper because R. Kelly will always be on the front page.
What's wrong with me? That's simple. Sexual assaults on children should always be on your radar. While you're putting him in a category with Bill Cosby or asking where's Weinstein, you need to think that any case involving children takes precedent. I'm not even saying whether his verdict is racially motivated or not but it doesn't matter because he did it. It doesn't matter the circumstances or the people involved, R. Kelly committed the crimes and was convicted. Michael Jackson was acquitted after two thorough FBI investigations and there isn't enough evidence (including zero physical evidence) to tie Bill Cosby to anything. Like I said in the beginning R. Kelly isn't any of these two men.
Many of you will think I'm crazy. Some will think I'm on point on some or all of the issues. Many will disagree with me on all issues. Leave a comment or like this. Either way. That's my opinion and this is based on paperwork I have on the trial and my sources in law enforcement who worked the case. See my research come from the sources and not just the internet.