The sex trafficking trial against R Kelly entered its eighth day on Monday, with a male accuser testifying the singer promised him fame in exchange for sex.
The man, testifying under the name Louis, says that at the age of 17, Mr Kelly asked him what he “was willing to do for music”. He went on to describe how the star started crawling towards him and then performed a sex act, even though “I wasn’t into it”.
Mr Kelly, aged 54, denies all of the charges that are against him. This includes one count of racketeering and eight counts of violating an anti-sex trafficking law, the Mann Act.
The singer, full name Robert Kelly, has no charges for rape or assault. But prosecutors are able to present evidence of any possible crimes related to racketeering, no matter when they happened.
The racketeering charge portrays Mr Kelly as the kingpin of a criminal enterprise with the purpose “to prey upon young women and teenagers” for sexual reasons.
The testimony
The jury heard from two accusers on Monday, who both claim they were underage when they first met Mr Kelly.
Louis, now 32, shared his first encounter with Mr Kelly in 2006, when he was a 17 year old worker on a night shift at a Chicago McDonald’s.
Mr Kelly allegedly slipped him his telephone number, inviting him to his house. He offered the young man the use of his recording studio and some tips on the music industry.
Louis recounted how on one such occasion, the star asked him if he ever “had any fantasies” involving men. Mr Kelly then proceeded to crawl down on his knees and give him oral sex. Afterwards, he asked that he keep the act to just between the two of them, saying, “we family now, we brothers”. Louis also alleges that Mr Kelly asked him to call him “daddy”, and would often film their encounters.
The accuser says he kept seeing Mr Kelly because he “really wanted to make it” in the music business. At times he would bring friends to the singer’s parties, one of which also had sexual encounters with Mr Kelly. According to court documents, the boy was 16 years old at the time. Louis testifies that the singer once directed the two to “touch each other” sexually, but they refused.
Louis is testifying as part of a co-operation agreement, under which he hopes to evade up to 15 years in jail.
He previously pleaded guilty to offering to pay a potential witness against Mr Kelly to try stopping her co-operation with prosecutors. He claims he did this because of worries that she had sex tapes of him and Mr Kelly. Although he maintains that the singer did not know about the bribery attempt.
Backstage assault
On the same day, the court also heard testimony from a female accuser saying that Kelly sexually assaulted her in 1994 at the age of 17, after a concert in Miami.
The woman, testifying under the name Addie, says two men “who looked like bouncers” approached her and her friend, inviting them backstage after the show. Once there, Mr Kelly allegedly cleared the room before grabbing her wrists, pulling down her shorts and raping her. She says: “At this point, I was in complete shock. I just went blank”.
After the incident, her friend wanted to tell the police but Addie was scared. She thought that the entertainment industry might blacklist her if she came forward. A big concern was that they wouldn’t believe her, and she “didn’t want to be victim-shamed”.
Mr Kelly’s lawyers cross-examined the now 44 year old woman, asking why she waited over two decades to contact law enforcement. She fought back tears to reply: “Because I didn’t want to feel more shame and trauma”. She adds that she no longer does, as she is “an adult now,” and “no longer a little girl”.
Mr Kelly repeatedly denies all accusations of preying on victims during his long 30 year history, and pleads not guilty to all counts. His lawyers portrayed his accusers as groupies looking for revenge following relationships fading with the R&B star.
The singer, whose hit singles include I Believe I Can Fly from the original Space Jam movie, could face between 10 years and life in prison, if convicted.
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