R. Kelly has leveled a startling accusation at the U.S. Federal government, claiming the parents of his alleged victims misled him and the courts withheld vital evidence that could clear his name.
In June 2022, R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being found guilty on nine counts of a superseding indictment charging him with racketeering predicated on criminal conduct, including sexual exploitation of children, forced labor, and Mann Act violations involving the coercion and transportation of women and girls in interstate commerce to engage in illegal sexual activity, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York.
After being found guilty of three counts of child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor in Chicago, the singer was sentenced in February 2023 to 20 years in prison, with one year running consecutively to his 30-year sentence in New York.
During a prison phone call with Wack100 that streamed on Clubhouse, the disgraced R&B singer talked about how this evidence was purposefully buried and compared his plight to of a man exonerated by the Equal Justice Initiative with the help of civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson in the movie “Just Mercy.”
According to Kelly, his legal team provided chats indicating parental consent for minors residing with him. He suggests these messages could either validate his actions or reveal parental deception about the girls’ ages, supporting his defense that he was unaware he was engaging in statutory rape.
“It’s crazy, man, and it’s exposed; that’s the difference. It’s not like it’s not proof of it,” Kelly began.
Wack100 asked about the evidence being presented in the court.
“It didn’t never come up in the courts that the parents and everybody told you muthaf—kas was a certain age? Like they just totally ignored that s—t,” the ex-gang member-turned-social media instigator questioned.
“Obviously, totally,” the Chicago native said.
He continued, after Wack 100 responded in disbelief, “I don’t know nothing about the system, but I was told that it [the communications] had nothing to do with it.”
Kelly rationalized, “Anytime there’s supposedly, allegedly, a minor involved, how can the parents not have nothing to do with it? They never even showed up to court, ever.”
Wack 100 asked if he showed the communications between him and the parents to the feds, and the self-identified “Pied Piper of R&B” said, “I wasn’t allowed to show it.”
“They didn’t let that come in the court?” Wack 100 asked, to which R. Kelly replied with an interesting comparison.
“You know when you see a movie where evidence the evidence is denied, and it’s 100% evident?” he tried to explain. “ In that movie, the person is innocent but the evidence showing that they’re innocent got denied? You ever seen a movie like that?”
Wack 100 named movies like “A Few Good Men” and “A Time to Kill.” Kelly added any additional movie, saying, “’Just Mercy!’ The list goes on and on.”
“Just Mercy” depicts Walter McMillian’s wrongful conviction for the murder of Ronda Morrison, leading to six years on Alabama’s death row. Courts overlooked Black alibi witnesses’ testimony, placing McMillian (played by Michael B. Jordan) elsewhere during the crime.
The film and the real-life case it was based on showed that the judge’s jury selection showed racial bias. It also showed that there was evidence crucial to the defense that was suppressed, thus denying McMillian due process.
Wack 100 asked if he was going to bring forth the evidence when he appeals his convictions, and Kelly says that is the plan.
“If any jury would hear what I’ve spoke on, what my lawyer have spoke on and what you seen with the records and the s—t being stolen and allegedly shown to witnesses, if the jury had known that, what do you think the jury would have said?” the singer said.
Kelly and Wack 100 spoke about a series of what they presented as a series of illegal actions the authorities took against the singer while he was in custody, including the suppression of evidence.
Outraged by the trickery, the same trickery he alluded to as being done to Diddy, he dropped some civics on the listeners, “The law can’t break the law to uphold the law,” Kelly said, feverishly calling on the feds to “stop” what he considers is railroading.
At one point in the conversation, Wack 100 started talking about laws regarding sex with women under 18 in different states. The fans noticed, while Kelly talked a lot about his vindicating evidence, he was quiet as a mouse about this touchy subject.
“Kells went silent on the 18 across the board talk,” one comment read.
One X user asked, “What is he referring to when he says he thought it was 16 in certain states but the Fed law is 18 legal consentual sex ages?”
A few chimed in to do what they thought was clearing it up on the thread, saying, “Feds gave states the right to pick age of consent. Feds age of consent only applies with stuff like trafficking.”
Feds gave states the right to pick age of consent. Feds age of consent only applies with stuff like trafficking
— MR. JOHNSON BOXING TALK & MORE (@SMFMIKEJOHN) March 28, 2024
Someone else added, “Fed law trumps State law, so if she of consent is 16 in the State doesn’t mean the Fed which is 18 for consent can’t arrest you.”
Fed law trumps State law, so if she of consent is 16 in the State doesn’t mean the Fed which is 18 for consent can’t arrest you.
— Mons Deangelo (@MonsDeangelo) March 28, 2024
After R. Kelly’s Chicago conviction, he hired defense lawyer Jennifer Bonjean. Bonjean made headlines by representing Bill Cosby in his last case. He hopes her addition to his team will help reverse his convictions.