Will R. Kelly finally be sentenced in his sex trafficking trial?

One thing that social media has made rather clear is that our screens hold a great amount of our attention. Television is seen as mere entertainment, but it’s clear that whatever is put on the screens will be seen by millions of people. If you had the opportunity to send a message to millions of people, what would that message be? Well, content creators get the chance to do that every day. 

Because of such vast audiences, what is put on the screens matters quite a lot. Not only are we talking to the masses, but we’re even going to be talking to future generations. What kind of message are we sending to our children and the entire world by allowing criminals to get away with their actions? Many of us are taught from young ages to take responsibility for our actions, but does that always apply to everyone?

There’s a notion that seems to travel around that celebrities can do no wrong. We get so lost in the talents of some big stars that we forget all about their severe wrongdoings. Singer R Kelly has been on trial for a while now and we all know why. But will he finally be sentenced in this sex trafficking trial?

Law history

Many people are in love with R Kelly’s music and it’s clouded a lot of judgment. In the mid-nineties when he was twenty-seven years old, he illegally married his fifteen-year-old protégée Aaliyah who was just fifteen. They had a secret ceremony in August of that year. The late Aaliyah admitted to falsely claiming to be eighteen years old in an interview. 

Kelly met Aaliyah just three years prior when she was twelve. Their marriage was annulled in February of 1995. Through his lawyers, Kelly confessed to having had sexual contact with Aaliyah when she was underage. In 1998, he had to settle a lawsuit with Tiffany Hawkins for $250,000 after she claimed Kelly forced her to have group sex with other teenaged girls when she was fifteen years old. 

Later in the two-thousands, news surfaced about a video of Kelly engaging in hard-core pornography with a fourteen-year-old girl. In a divorce court filing opened last year, Kelly’s ex-wife claimed he was accused of molesting a preteen girl back in 2009. With the release of the docuseries Surviving R Kelly, more and more of his past was shown to the public. 

R Kelly sympathizers

Despite all the evidence, there’s still plenty of people called “R Kelly sympathizers”. They believe R Kelly doesn’t deserve to be on trial because he is innocent. Many people have always believed he was innocent. They should ask themselves this question: if R Kelly had been their neighbor or coworker, would they be defending him? Would they be so quick to say he’s innocent?

We all need to realize and remember that celebrities are people like us who are no less capable of doing wrong than we are. And when they do wrong, they need to be held accountable. Of course, everyone deserves a free trial, but when the evidence points to guilt, it’s important to know that the truth doesn’t care what we think and it never will. 

Sex trafficking trial

R Kelly spent his time in criminal court today for his long-anticipated federal trial. He’s facing charges of sexual abuse and racketeering. The prosecutor described the R&B singer as a predator who used his fame to lure girls, young women, and boys before dominating & controlling them. 

It’s been over a decade since the time Kelly was acquitted. In 2008, he was involved in a sexual abuse case. His career continued but then the #MeToo Movement came, merely postponing the singer’s punishment. 

Assistant U.S. attorney Maria Cruz Melendez just told the jury that “Kelly invited children and women to join him after shows by distributing backstage passes. Once he had them alone, he dominated and controlled them physically, sexually and psychologically.”

Yes, there are still people on R Kelly’s side but the evidence against him is mounting up. The New York case is only part of what’s facing the singer. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota.

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Do you think Kelly will finally be sentenced in this sex trafficking trial? Tell us what you think!