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Tag: R. Kelly

  • Chicago Appeals Court Rejects R. Kelly’s Challenge Of 20-Year Sentence – KXL

    Chicago Appeals Court Rejects R. Kelly’s Challenge Of 20-Year Sentence – KXL

    CHICAGO (AP) — The singer R. Kelly was correctly sentenced to 20 years in prison on child sex convictions in Chicago, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

    Jurors in 2022 convicted the Grammy Award-winning R&B singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, on three charges of producing child porn and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.

    In his appeal, Kelly argued that Illinois’ former and shorter statute of limitations on child sex prosecutions should have applied to his Chicago case rather than current law permitting charges while an accuser is still alive.

    He also argued that charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from the charges tied to three other accusers due to video evidence that became a focal point of the Chicago trial.

    State prosecutors have said the video showed Kelly abusing a girl. The accuser identified only as Jane testified for the first time that she was 14 when the video was taken.

    The three-judge panel from the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Friday’s ruling noted that jurors acquitted Kelly on 7 of the 13 counts against him “even after viewing those abhorrent tapes.”

    The appeals court also rejected Kelly’s argument that he should not have been prosecuted since the allegations occurred while Illinois law required prosecution of child sex crime charges within ten years. The panel labeled it an attempt by Kelly to elude the charges entirely after “employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet.”

    Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean did not immediately respond to a message left with her office seeking comment on Kelly’s behalf.

    Prosecutors in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago had sought an even tougher sentence, asking for 25 years. They also wanted a judge to not let that time begin until after Kelly completed a 30-year sentence imposed in 2022 in New York for federal racketeering and sex trafficking convictions.

    Judge Harry Leinenweber rejected that ask, ordering that Kelly serve the 20 years from the Chicago case simultaneously with the New York sentence.

    Kelly has separately appealed the New York sentence.

    In arguments last month before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, attorney Jennifer Bonjean asked the panel to find that prosecutors improperly used a racketeering statute written to shut down organized crime to go after the singer.

     

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    Grant McHill

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  • Accusing a pop superstar of sex trafficking: What R. Kelly case tells us about Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

    Accusing a pop superstar of sex trafficking: What R. Kelly case tells us about Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

    Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly was once worth hundreds of millions of dollars but is now serving what amounts to a life sentence in federal prison.

    After decades of sex abuse allegations and an acquittal on child pornography charges, a documentary series titled “Surviving R. Kelly” finally gave his accusers a voice and helped bring down the singer. Within six months of its airing, Kelly was facing federal prosecution in New York.

    He was convicted not only of sex trafficking but also of racketeering — charges that specify a person’s “enterprise” was used to carry out criminal conduct.

    Sean “Diddy” Combs now faces a similar federal investigation, though the accusations against him are significantly different and it remains unclear whether they will result in criminal charges.

    Authorities have said little about the probe. But law enforcement sources have confirmed to The Times that Combs is under investigation for sex-trafficking tied at least in part to civil lawsuits filed by several women who have accused him of misconduct.

    Combs has denied any wrongdoing, and his attorneys have slammed the investigation as unwarranted.

    After federal agents searched the artist’s homes in Florida and Los Angeles several weeks ago, his attorney decried a “premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs” and said the investigation “is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”

    Still, previous high-profile sex-trafficking cases could offer a window into how the feds typically build a case and can provide clues into what officials would need to bring charges.

    “The playbook for these types of cases is R. Kelly, Jeffrey Epstein, Larry Ray and NXIVM’s founder Keith Raniere,” said Elizabeth Geddes, who delivered a six-hour closing argument in Kelly’s conviction.

    In November, Combs’ former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, the singer known as Cassie, accused him in a lawsuit of rape. Within a day, he settled.

    Since then, three other women have sued Combs, accusing him of rape, sex trafficking, assault and other abuses. One of the allegations involved a minor. A male producer also has sued him over unwanted sexual contact.

    Geddes, who is not involved in the Combs case, said she believes Ventura might have been the trigger for the federal investigation.

    She said the docuseries about Kelly spurred the Eastern District of New York to act — and that type of high-level investigation often requires an outside catalyst. In Kelly’s case, he had been acquitted in 2008 and as a result, many of his accusers lost confidence in law enforcement. But the documentary re-engaged authorities.

    “Nothing puts pressure on law enforcement like a front-page story on the major newspaper in the city,” Geddes said.

    Combs’ investigation, led by Homeland Security, is several months old, according to sources, and many connected to the case — including accusers and alleged witnesses — have already been interviewed.

    Geddes said Homeland Security Investigations also worked the Kelly case, and its agents tend to have years of experience working with sex-trafficking victims.

    She said sex trafficking requires either “force, fraud or coercion to cause a person to engage in a commercial sex act” or the trafficking of minors under 18.

    “There is no statute of limitations,” Geddes said, and the key law enacted in the 2000s applies to acts from 2001 forward.

    Geddes said that in addition to the sex charges against Kelly, she and her colleagues secured a racketeering indictment against the singer. The charge has famously been applied to mob bosses like John Gotti and James “Whitey” Bulger.

    In racketeering cases, Geddes said, the “enterprise” carries out illegal conduct and prosecutors seek to show a broader pattern of conduct that stretches over years and involves many participants. A racketeering case also allows multiple victims’ narratives in one trial.

    Racketeering became a federal crime in 1970 under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.

    Over the years, its usage has expanded. It often is used against gangs, ranging from the Mexican Mafia to South L.A.’s Crips. Racketeering cases also have been brought against rappers associated with street gangs, including Young Thug, Kay Flock, Casanova, and Fetty Wap.

    Federal prosecutors have succeeded in racketeering convictions not only against Kelly, but also against other sex traffickers, including NXIVM founder Raniere and Larry Ray, whose crimes were outlined in the docuseries “Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence.”

    A law enforcement agent carries a bag of evidence as federal agents stand at the entrance to a property belonging to Sean “Diddy” Combs in Miami on March 25.

    (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)

    But it is unclear what evidence the feds have against Combs and whether there is enough to bring charges.

    Few details are available, other than sources saying investigators left his two homes with electronics, data devices and other records.

    Legal experts have told The Times that evidence in sex-trafficking cases must be extensive as such charges can be hard to prove.

    “Sex trafficking for adults usually involves some sort of coercion or other restraints,” L.A. defense attorney Dmitry Gorin said. Prosecutors would need to show you “encouraged somebody to engage in sexual activity for money or some other inducement.”

    Aaron Dyer, one of Combs’ lawyers, stressed in a statement released after the raids that “there has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations.”

    The mother of Combs’ son Justin Dior Combs also slammed the investigation and the raids.

    “The overzealous and overtly militarized force used against my sons Justin and Christian is deplorable,” designer Misa Hylton said after releasing video showing federal agents dressed in military gear pointing a gun at Combs’ sons. “If these were the sons of a non-Black celebrity, they would not have been handled with the same aggression. The attempt to humiliate and terrorize these innocent young Black men is despicable!”

    Federal sex-trafficking and sexual assault laws also allow prosecutors to present evidence that shows a modus operandi.

    “In the R. Kelly trial, several women testified about what Kelly did to them as part of a pattern of behavior. It is very much the same thing people saw in Harvey Weinstein’s prosecution,” Geddes said.

    If prosecutors do file charges against Combs, they also could allege the use of forced labor under threat, Geddes said. Ventura, Combs’ former girlfriend, alleged she was forced into sex acts with other men and suffered physical harm for complaining. If true, this could be considered forced labor, Geddes said.

    Kelly was convicted of eight counts of the Mann Act, which was passed in 1910 and sought to criminalize what’s now known as human trafficking. The law initially banned transporting a woman or girl across state lines “for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.”

    The Mann Act now covers transportation across state lines “with [the] intent that such individual engages in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense.”

    In the allegations against Combs, one woman said she was brought from Detroit as a 17-year-old to Combs’ studios so he could rape her along with his cohorts, Geddes said.

    Before the highly publicized searches of Combs’ properties were executed, Geddes said, prosecutors and HSI agents had to “have made some headway into the investigations.”

    “What we can say at this stage is there was enough probable cause to convince a magistrate to issue a search warrant,” she said. “Before getting such a warrant, agents have typically interviewed multiple witnesses.”

    Geddes said those types of searches typically seek corroboration of evidence because high-profile individuals tend to work with others to commit such crimes. In Kelly’s case, Geddes said, his storage facility proved to be a goldmine. He kept message slips, handwritten notations and emails to pick up women and girls. And there were “videos, lots of videos,” she said.

    “We had so much evidence presented in Kelly, it was hard to fit it all into the closing,” Geddes said. “He used his money and public persona to hide his crimes in plain sight,” she told jurors at the time.

    Richard Winton

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  • Analphabet Issues: Illiterate R.Kelly Claims He Had No Knowledge Of A $10.5M Lawsuit Because He 'Can't Read Beyond That Of A Grade Schooler'

    Analphabet Issues: Illiterate R.Kelly Claims He Had No Knowledge Of A $10.5M Lawsuit Because He 'Can't Read Beyond That Of A Grade Schooler'

    Admittedly illiterate R. Kelly is fighting back against a whopping $10.5 million judgment that was ruled against him due to an explosive lawsuit in August. The ruling was connected to six women who alleged they were sexually victimized by the disgraced singer.

    Now, the troubled R&B star — who is currently serving over 30 years in prison for sex trafficking, child pornography, and racketeering charges — claims he shouldn’t be held accountable for the suit because he didn’t know about it and couldn’t “read or understand” the court documents beyond that of a child in grade school. 

    Interesting.

    Source: John Lamparski / Getty

    In Court Docs, The Singer Claimed That He Couldn’t Read Or Understand “Beyond That Of A Grade-Schooler”

    According to court documents obtained by TMZ,  R.Kelly — real name Robert Sylvester Kelly — argued that he shouldn’t have had to pay a whopping $10.5 million to the six women who successfully sued him and his former manager, Donnell Russell, in August 2023. The plaintiffs alleged that he and Russell were involved in a plot to disrupt a December 2018 NYC screening of the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries by making a mass shooting threat, but the “Step In the Name of Love ” hitmaker vehemently denied the allegations. 

    The incarcerated Chicago native, 57, claimed that he never saw the lawsuit because he’s juggling multiple criminal cases and prosecutions. The R&B crooner told court officials that he had recently changed legal representation and that the lawsuit may have been overlooked during the transition. Additionally, Kelly argued that due to his limited reading ability beyond that of a child in a certain grade level, he heavily relies on his attorneys to explain information connected to his various suits.

    “I rely on my lawyers to explain things to me because I cannot read or understand words beyond that of a grade-schooler,” Kelly said, according to XXL Magazine.

    R. Kelly’s lawyer has since released a statement backing up Kelly’s claims while explaining further.

    In a statement to XXL, Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly’s attorney, clarified that the Grammy Award-winning singer’s dispute wasn’t just because of his illiteracy.

    “We are absolutely pushing back on the $10.5 million default judgment that was entered against him without notice and without a sound legal justification,” she said.

    “It would be simplistic and silly to write that the basis for our motion to vacate the windfall judgment relates solely to his illiteracy (although he is in fact functionally illiterate per formalized testing). The more significant problem is that there was no legal basis to enter the default judgment on the merits.”

    Bonjean added:

    “It is not even disputed that Kelly played no role in the events that formed the basis of that lawsuit and did not even know what allegedly occurred until after the fact. He cannot as a matter of law be liable for the intentional conduct of someone who was not even his employee. I am more than happy to send you the pleading if you care to educate yourself on the issues.”

    Oddly, Kelly asserted that Russell never managed him throughout his career and maintained that he didn’t know why the music business official would go to great lengths to stop the Surviving R. Kelly screening with a mass shooting threat.

    “He did that for his own reasons,” the “Bump n’ Grind” artist said.

    In 2022, a federal judge slammed Russell with a 20-month prison sentence for reportedly “harassing and intimidating” a victim of Kelly’s, the New York Post noted. 

    Bossip Staff

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  • THANKSGIVING 2023: The Prison Spread Set For Tory Lanez, Suge Knight & R.Kelly | The YBF

    THANKSGIVING 2023: The Prison Spread Set For Tory Lanez, Suge Knight & R.Kelly | The YBF

    They probably won’t be watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (or maybe they will?!), but celebrity inmates will get a semblance of Thanksgiving food today.

    Tory Lanez (pictured above), his prison mate Suge Knight, and R. Kelly will receive an interesting spread today. But, of course, it won’t be anywhere near the luxe celebrations we’re sure to see around social media from other celebs at home.

    According to TMZ, Tory and Suge will be breaking bread at the San Diego’s Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility and gobbling up roast turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cornbread dressing, diced carrots, dinner roll, green salad, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie.

    Tory is currently serving a 10-year sentence handed down in the shooting of Megan Thee Stallion, while Suge was sentenced back in 2018 to 28 years in prison for mowing down and killing a Compton businessman in a case who put a nail in his downfall.

    Robert Kelly will dip into a spread at North Carolina’s FCI Butner Medium I that includes roast turkey, baked candied sweet potatoes, cornbread dressing, green beans, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, pumpkin pie. He may or may not be singing the prayer.

    R is serving a 20 year prison sentence in his federal Chicago sex crimes case.

    The site also said, “We’re not saying the above inmates deserve special holiday festivities, but card games, relay races, bingo, checkers, chess and team sports will be available to some of ’em.”

    Hmph!

    Photos: Michael A Walker Jr/Shutterstock.com

    The YBF

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  • Prosecutors ask for 25 years in prison for R. Kelly on top of 30 he’s already serving

    Prosecutors ask for 25 years in prison for R. Kelly on top of 30 he’s already serving

    Federal prosecutors Thursday asked a judge to give singer R. Kelly 25 more years in prison for his child pornography and enticement convictions last year in Chicago, which would add to 30 years he recently began serving in a New York case.

    The 56-year-old wouldn’t be eligible for release until he was around 100 if the judge agrees both to the 25-year sentence and another government request that Kelly begin serving his Chicago sentence only after the 30-year New York sentence is fully served.

    In their sentencing recommendation filed before midnight Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, prosecutors described Kelly’s behavior as “sadistic,” calling him “a serial sexual predator” with no remorse who “poses a serious danger to society.”

    “The only way to ensure Kelly does not reoffend is to impose a sentence that will keep him in prison for the rest of his life,” the 37-page government filing says.

    Kelly’s sentencing in Chicago is set for Thursday next week.

    R Kelly
    R. Kelly leaves the Daley Center after a hearing in his child support case on May 8, 2019, in Chicago.

    Matt Marton / AP


    Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, wrote in a filing last week that even with his existing 30-year New York sentence, “Kelly would have to defy all statistical odds to make it out of prison alive.” She cited data that the average life expectancy of inmates is 64.

    She recommended a sentence of around 10 years, at the low end of the sentencing guidelines range, which she said could be served simultaneously with the New York sentence.

    In arguing for the lesser sentence, Bonjean alleged Kelly, who is Black, was singled out for behavior that she said white rock stars have gotten away with for decades.

    “None have been prosecuted and none will die in prison,” she wrote.

    Prosecutors acknowledged that a 25-year sentence in the Chicago case would be more time than even sentencing guidelines recommend. But they argued for imposing a long sentence and instructing it be served only after the New York sentence was appropriate.

    “A consecutive sentence is eminently reasonable given the egregiousness of Kelly’s conduct,” the filing argued. “Kelly’s sexual abuse of minors was intentional and prolific.”

    At the trial in Chicago last year, jurors convicted the Grammy Award winning singer on six of 13 counts. But the government lost the marquee count that Kelly and his then-business manager successfully rigged his state child pornography trial in 2008.

    Both of Kelly’s co-defendants, including longtime business manager Derrel McDavid, were acquitted of all charges.

    Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, rose from poverty in Chicago to superstardom, becoming known for smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and sex-infused songs such as “Bump n’ Grind.”

    While the Grammy Award-winner went to trial in 2008, it wasn’t until after the airing of Lifetime’s 2019 docu-series, “Surviving R. Kelly” — featuring testimonials by his accusers — that criminal investigations were kicked into high-gear, ending with federal and new state charges.

    In January, an Illinois judge dismissed state sex-abuse charges prior to a trial on the recommendation of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. Foxx said she was comfortable dropping the case because Kelly would spend decades in prison for his federal convictions.

    Prosecutors at Kelly’s federal trial in Chicago portrayed him as a master manipulator who used his fame and wealth to reel in star-struck fans to sexually abuse and, in some cases, record them on video, and then discard them.

    After deliberating over two days, jurors convicted Kelly of three counts each of producing child pornography and enticement of minors for sex, while acquitting him of obstruction of justice, one count of production of child porn and three counts of receiving child porn.

    The Chicago verdict came months after a federal judge in New York sentenced Kelly to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking. Based on that sentence alone, he wouldn’t eligible for release until he is around 80.

    Even if granted time off for good behavior, Kelly would be only be eligible for release if he serves 25 years after the New York sentence in the year 2066, the government’s Thursday filing said.

    It will be up to Judge Harry Leinenweber in Chicago to decide the crucial question of whether Kelly serves whatever sentence he imposes concurrently, simultaneously, with the New York sentence or consecutively.

    Kelly’s legal team is appealing his New York and Chicago convictions. Prosecutors sometimes press for long sentences for defendants sentenced at earlier trials in a bid to ensure that, if some convictions are later tossed, they will still do some time behind bars.

    Bonjean argued that traumas throughout Kelly’s life, including abuse as a child and illiteracy throughout adulthood, justified leniency in sentencing the singer.

    Kelly “is not an evil monster but a complex (unquestionably troubled) human-being who faced overwhelming challenges in childhood that shaped his adult life,” she said.

    That the conduct for which he was convicted occurred decades ago should also be factored in, she said.

    “While Kelly was not a child in the late 1990s, he also was not the middle-aged man he was at the time of his 2019 indictment,” she argued. “Kelly was a damaged man in his late 20s.”

    She added that Kelly has already paid a heavy price from his legal troubles, including a financial one. She said his worth once approached $1 billion but that he “is now destitute.”

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  • The Year of the Slap: Pop culture moments in 2022

    The Year of the Slap: Pop culture moments in 2022

    Taylor Swift was up. Elon Musk was in, out, in and maybe out again. Tom Cruise was back. BTS stepped aside, and so did Serena Williams, and Tom Brady too — oops, scratch that.

    But the slap? The slap was everywhere.

    Ok, so maybe it wasn’t on the level of a moon landing, or selection of a pope. But henceforth all you need say is “the slap” and people will know what you mean — that moment Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars and a global audience said, “Wait, did that happen?” Even in the room itself — maybe especially in the room itself — there was a sense everyone had imagined it, which helps explain why things went on as normal, for a bit.

    The pandemic was over, phew! Well, of course it wasn’t. But live entertainment pushed forward in 2022, with mask mandates dropping and people rushing to buy things like, oh, Taylor Swift tickets!

    We’ll take any segue to mention Swift, who already had a big year in 2021, but just got bigger — heck, she broke Billboard records and then she broke Ticketmaster. (No word if she got her scarf back).

    It was a year of celebrity #MeToo cases like Harvey Weinstein (again), R. Kelly (again), Kevin Spacey, Paul Haggis, Danny Masterson. And the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial, its every excruciating turn captured on TV.

    On the big screen, there were big comebacks. Mourning its dearly missed star, Chadwick Boseman, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” was a box office triumph. James Cameron’s “Avatar” made a splashy December return.

    Then there was Cruise, turning 60 in ’22 just like the Rolling Stones, swooping into Cannes with his most successful movie and showing, like those still-touring rockers, that when they tell you “The end is inevitable,” as they do in “Top Gun: Maverick,” you can always reply: “Maybe so, sir, but not today.”

    Will audiences one day find Cruise – or the Stones, for that matter – too wrinkled and past the sell-by date? Maybe so, but not this year.

    Our annual, totally selective journey through a year in pop culture:

    JANUARY

    It’s GOLDEN GLOBES time. But is a Globes with no telecast, boozy celebs or red carpet a Globes at all? The embattled Hollywood Foreign Press Association, reeling from stunning failures over diversity, holds a private event and plans a comeback next year. Hey, remember the original wardrobe malfunction? Well, JANET JACKSON says she and JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE have moved on, and so should we. The New York Times buys Wordle, and we’re all thinking in five-letter words (though W-O-R-D-L-E is six, just saying.) Meanwhile, it’s a month of loss, heading off a year of loss: pioneering Black actor, director and activist SIDNEY POITIER dies at 94.

    FEBRUARY

    What would a year in pop culture be without BRITNEY? Just months after her liberation from her restrictive conservatorship, Spears is reported to have signed a mammoth book deal, but at year’s end we’re still waiting for news. RIHANNA is pregnant! TOM BRADY retires! (Stay tuned, on that one.) TAYLOR watch: JAKE GYLLENHAAL speaks out, saying he really has nothing to do with that song.

    MARCH

    Quick, who wins Oscars this month? Well, “CODA” does, a feel-good drama with a largely deaf cast, and TROY KOTSUR becomes the first deaf actor to win an acting Oscar. Alas, all anyone can talk about is — you know. SMITH, who wins the best actor award not long after slapping Rock over a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, won’t truly address the issue until the end of the year, so keep reading. KARDASHIAN watch: Kim K is declared legally single again in her ongoing divorce with YE, the rapper formerly known as KANYE WEST. And BRADY, retired for 40 days, says, “Never mind!”

    APRIL

    It’s GRAMMY time, and JON BATISTE wins big, taking five statuettes. The musician’s huge year will later include performing at the first state dinner of the Biden administration, for French President Emmanuel Macron. The next day Macron will meet with MUSK (thanks for the segue, Monsieur le President) who begins his acquisition of TWITTER this month, leading to untold — and still unfolding — changes at the social media giant.

    MAY

    So imagine you’re sipping cocktails at the MET GALA and a musician comes sauntering through, playing the melodica — of course it’s BATISTE, because the Met Gala’s that kind of crazy party. The biggest splash of the night, though, is KARDASHIAN, on the arm of boyfriend PETE DAVIDSON, wearing the same sequined, skin tight gown MARILYN MONROE wore to sing “Happy Birthday” to JFK in 1962. In movies, “Top Gun: Maverick” opens, the highest-grossing domestic debut in CRUISE’S career, and his first to surpass $100 million on opening weekend. HARRY STYLES fans rejoice! His album, “Harry’s House,” is here.

    JUNE

    Stunning news for the global fanbase of BTS as the K-pop supergroup announces it’s taking a break to focus on members’ solo projects. On the legal front, a Virginia jury hands DEPP a victory in his very messy libel case over allegations of domestic abuse, finding that former wife HEARD defamed him in a 2018 op-ed. On a happier note, Britney gets married….

    JULY

    Only one wedding, Britney? BENNIFER has two! Maybe what happens in Vegas usually stays in Vegas, but not when you have 227 million followers on Instagram. With a winking reference to being a “Sadie” (married lady) JENNIFER LOPEZ directs fans to her newsletter where she shares pics of her quickie wedding to BEN AFFLECK. “Love is beautiful,” she writes. “And it turns out love is patient.” Speaking of patience, fans of BEYONCÉ are rewarded for theirs with the release of her long-awaited “Renaissance,” her first solo album in six years.

    AUGUST

    So, we were saying … Bennifer’s second wedding, on Affleck’s compound in Georgia, is bigger and fancier. One wedding, one split: KARDASHIAN and DAVIDSON are no longer. In other summer news, the world remembers PRINCESS DIANA, whose shocking death happened 25 years ago, and whose life is being rehashed for a new generation in the current season of “The Crown.” Only days after the anniversary, that same Netflix series will pause production as a mark of respect for QUEEN ELIZABETH II as Britain — and the world — mourn the beloved monarch, who dies at age 96 after more than 70 years on the throne.

    SEPTEMBER

    Mounting political intrigue in Europe, and by that we mean, did spit fly at the Venice premiere of “Don’t Worry Darling”? Either way the movie, directed by OLIVIA WILDE and starring her boyfriend (alleged spitter STYLES), is saddled – or blessed? – with more than its share of extracurricular drama. At the EMMYS, behold SHERYL LEE RALPH, who wins for “Abbott Elementary” and schools the crowd on the power of dreams and self-belief. “This is what believing looks like,” she says. You know what else believing looks like? Rachel Berry from “Glee” – aka LEA MICHELE – at last getting to play Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” on Broadway. In sports, with four rueful words that resonate with working moms everywhere, SERENA WILLIAMS says she’s stepping aside from tennis, because “something’s got to give.”

    OCTOBER

    The second HARVEY WEINSTEIN trial opens in Los Angeles. ADIDAS drops YE, part of a cascade of companies that will sever ties with the rapper over his antisemitic and other troubling comments. The MUSK era begins at TWITTER as the world’s richest man carries a sink into the office, to “let that sink in.” HEIDI KLUM’s Halloween costume is a slimy, glistening rain worm. But before the month worms away from us, let’s cede it to SWIFT for dropping her new album, “Midnights” (Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day), then adding seven bonus tracks, then becoming the first artist to occupy all top 10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Let THAT sink in! P.S. Celebrity divorce watch: BRADY and )GISELE BUNDCHEN split.

    NOVEMBER

    Did we say LAST month was Taylor Swift month? Well now, millions of eager fans crowd a presale for her much-awaited Eras Tour, resulting in crashes and endless waits. Ticketmaster cancels the general sale, citing insufficient stock. Multiple state attorneys general announce investigations. Takeaway: People want Taylor Swift tickets. At the multiplex, they also want their Wakanda. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” meets the double challenge of following up one of the biggest blockbusters in history and losing its biggest star.

    DECEMBER

    Love ’em or hate ’em, here come HARRY and MEGHAN again, with a Netflix documentary watched very closely by royalty across the pond. Over at Twitter, MUSK says he’ll step down as CEO — after polling users — once he finds someone “foolish” enough to replace him. Cameron’s “AVATAR” sequel finally appears, 13 years after the original broke records, and yes, moviegoers flock to Pandora once again. And bringing the year full circle, SMITH emerges to promote his new film, “EMANCIPATION,” hoping people will forget about … what was it? … at least enough to check out the movie.

    In this year of comebacks, will Smith’s be the biggest?

    Check back with us in 2023.

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  • The Year of the Slap: Pop culture moments in 2022

    The Year of the Slap: Pop culture moments in 2022

    Taylor Swift was up. Elon Musk was in, out, and in. Tom Cruise was back. BTS stepped aside, and so did Serena Williams, and Tom Brady too — oops, scratch that.

    But the slap? The slap was everywhere.

    Ok, so maybe it wasn’t on the level of a moon landing, or selection of a pope. But henceforth all you need say is “the slap” and people will know what you mean — that moment Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars and a global audience said, “Wait, did that happen?” Even in the room itself — maybe especially in the room itself — there was a sense that everyone had imagined it, which helps explain why things went on as normal, for a bit.

    The pandemic was over in 2022, phew! Well, of course it wasn’t. But live entertainment pushed forward, with mask mandates dropping, and people rushing to buy things like, oh, Taylor Swift tickets!

    We’ll take any segue to mention Swift, who already had a big year in 2021, but just got bigger — heck, she broke Billboard records and then she broke Ticketmaster. (No word if she got her scarf back).

    It was a year of celebrity #MeToo cases like Harvey Weinstein (again), R. Kelly (again), Kevin Spacey, Paul Haggis, Danny Masterson. And the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial, its every excruciating turn captured on TV.

    On the big screen, there were big comebacks. Mourning its dearly missed star, Chadwick Boseman, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” was a box office triumph. James Cameron’s “Avatar” planned a December return.

    Then there was Tom Cruise, turning 60 in ’22, just like the Rolling Stones, swooping into Cannes with his most successful movie, and showing, like those still-touring rockers, that when they tell you “The end is inevitable,” as they do in “Top Gun: Maverick,” you can always reply “Maybe so, sir, but not today.”

    Will audiences one day find Cruise – or the Stones, for that matter – too wrinkled and past the sell-by date? Maybe so, but not this year.

    Our annual, totally selective journey through a year in pop culture:

    JANUARY

    It’s GOLDEN GLOBES time. But is a Globes with no telecast, boozy celebs or red carpet a Globes at all? The embattled Hollywood Foreign Press Association, reeling from stunning failures over diversity, holds a private event and plans a comeback next year. Hey, remember the original wardrobe malfunction? Well, JANET JACKSON says she and JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE have moved on, and so should we. The New York Times buys Wordle, and we’re all thinking in five-letter words (though W-O-R-D-L-E is six, just saying.) Meanwhile, it’s a month of loss, heading off a year of loss: pioneering Black actor, director and activist SIDNEY POITIER dies at 94.

    FEBRUARY

    What would a year in pop culture be without BRITNEY? Just months after her liberation from her restrictive conservatorship, Spears is reported to have signed a mammoth book deal, but at year’s end we’re still waiting for news. RIHANNA is pregnant! TOM BRADY retires! (Stay tuned, on that one.) TAYLOR watch: JAKE GYLLENHAAL speaks out, saying he really has nothing to do with that song, that it’s about an artist’s relationship with her fans — but fans shouldn’t be cyberbullying, either.

    MARCH

    Quick, who wins Oscars this month? Well, “CODA” does, a feel-good drama with a largely deaf cast, and TROY KOTSUR becomes the first deaf actor to win an acting Oscar. Alas, all anyone can talk about is — you know. SMITH, who wins the best actor award not long after slapping Rock over a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, won’t truly address the issue until the end of the year, so keep reading. KARDASHIAN watch: Kim K is declared legally single again in her ongoing divorce with YE, the rapper formerly known as KANYE WEST. And BRADY, retired for 40 days, says, “Never mind!”

    APRIL

    It’s GRAMMY time, and JON BATISTE wins big, taking five statuettes. The musician’s huge year will later include performing at the first state dinner of the Biden administration, for French President Emmanuel Macron. The next day Macron will meet with MUSK (thanks for the segue, Monsieur le President) who begins his acquisition of TWITTER this month, leading to untold – and still unfolding – changes at the social media giant.

    MAY

    So imagine you’re sipping cocktails at the MET GALA and a musician comes sauntering through, playing the melodica — of course it’s BATISTE, because the Met Gala’s that kind of crazy party. The biggest splash of the night, though, is KARDASHIAN, on the arm of boyfriend PETE DAVIDSON, wearing the same sequined, skin tight gown MARILYN MONROE wore to sing “Happy Birthday” to JFK in 1962. In movies, “Top Gun: Maverick” opens, the highest-grossing domestic debut in CRUISE’S career, and his first to surpass $100 million on opening weekend. HARRY STYLES fans rejoice! His album, “Harry’s House,” is here.

    JUNE

    Stunning news for the global fanbase of BTS as the K-pop supergroup announces it’s taking a break to focus on members’ solo projects. On the legal front, a Virginia jury hands DEPP a victory in his very messy libel case over allegations of domestic abuse, finding that former wife HEARD defamed him in a 2018 op-ed. On a happier note, Britney gets married….

    JULY

    Only one wedding, Britney? BENNIFER has two! Maybe what happens usually stays in Vegas, but not when you have 227 million followers on Instagram. With a winking reference to being a “Sadie” (married lady) JENNIFER LOPEZ directs fans to her newsletter where she shares pics of her quickie wedding to BEN AFFLECK. “Love is beautiful,” she writes. “And it turns out love is patient.” Speaking of patience, fans of BEYONCÉ are rewarded for theirs, with the release of her long-awaited seventh studio album, “Renaissance,” her first solo album in six years.

    AUGUST

    So, we were saying …. Bennifer’s second wedding , on Affleck’s compound in Georgia, is bigger and fancier. One wedding, one split: KARDASHIAN and DAVIDSON are no longer. In other summer news, the world remembers Princess Diana, whose shocking death in a car crash happened 25 years ago, and whose life is being rehashed for a new generation in the current season of “The Crown.” And only days later, that same Netflix series will pause production briefly as a mark of respect for Queen Elizabeth II as Britain — and the world — mourn the beloved monarch, who dies at age 96 after more than 70 years on the throne.

    SEPTEMBER

    Mounting political intrigue in Europe, and by that we mean … did spit fly at the Venice premiere of “Don’t Worry Darling”? Either way the movie, directed by OLIVIA WILDE and starring her boyfriend (alleged spitter STYLES), is saddled – or blessed? – with more than its share of extracurricular drama. At the EMMYS, behold SHERYL LEE RALPH, who wins for “Abbott Elementary” and schools the crowd on the power of dreams and self-belief. “This is what believing looks like,” she says. You know what else believing looks like? Rachel Berry from “Glee” – aka LEA MICHELE – at last getting to play Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” on Broadway. In sports, with four rueful words that resonate with working moms everywhere, SERENA WILLIAMS says she’s stepping aside from tennis, because: “Something’s got to give.”

    OCTOBER

    The second HARVEY WEINSTEIN trial opens in Los Angeles. ADIDAS drops YE, part of a cascade of companies that will sever ties with the rapper over his antisemitic and other troubling comments. The MUSK era begins at TWITTER as the world’s richest man carries a sink into the office, to “let that sink in.” HEIDI KLUM’s Halloween costume is a slimy, glistening rain worm. But before the month worms away from us, let’s cede it to SWIFT for dropping her new album, “Midnights” (Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day), then adding seven bonus tracks, then becoming the first artist to occupy all top 10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Let THAT sink in! P.S. Celebrity divorce watch: BRADY and wife GISELE BUNDCHEN split.

    NOVEMBER

    Did we say LAST month was Taylor Swift month? Well now, millions of eager fans crowd a presale for her much-awaited Eras Tour, resulting in crashes and endless waits. Ticketmaster cancels the general sale, citing insufficient stock. Multiple state attorneys general announce investigations. Takeaway: People want Taylor Swift tickets. At the multiplex, they also want their Wakanda. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” meets the double challenge of following up one of the biggest blockbusters in history and losing its biggest star.

    DECEMBER

    Love ‘em or hate ’em, here come HARRY and MEGHAN again, with a Netflix “documentary” being watched very, very closely by royalty across the pond. Cameron’s “AVATAR” sequel finally appears, 13 years after the original broke records. Will viewers flock to Pandora once again? And bringing the year full circle, SMITH emerges to promote his new film, “EMANCIPATION,” and hoping people will forget about … what was it? … at least enough to check out the movie.

    In this year of comebacks, will Smith’s be the biggest?

    Check back with us in 2023.

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  • The Year of the Slap: Pop culture moments in 2022

    The Year of the Slap: Pop culture moments in 2022

    Taylor Swift was up. Elon Musk was in, out, and in. Tom Cruise was back. BTS stepped aside, and so did Serena Williams, and Tom Brady too — oops, scratch that.

    But the slap? The slap was everywhere.

    Ok, so maybe it wasn’t on the level of a moon landing, or selection of a pope. But henceforth all you need say is “the slap” and people will know what you mean — that moment Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars and a global audience said, “Wait, did that happen?” Even in the room itself — maybe especially in the room itself — there was a sense that everyone had imagined it, which helps explain why things went on as normal, for a bit.

    The pandemic was over in 2022, phew! Well, of course it wasn’t. But live entertainment pushed forward, with mask mandates dropping, and people rushing to buy things like, oh, Taylor Swift tickets!

    We’ll take any segue to mention Swift, who already had a big year in 2021, but just got bigger — heck, she broke Billboard records and then she broke Ticketmaster. (No word if she got her scarf back).

    It was a year of celebrity #MeToo cases like Harvey Weinstein (again), R. Kelly (again), Kevin Spacey, Paul Haggis, Danny Masterson. And the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial, its every excruciating turn captured on TV.

    On the big screen, there were big comebacks. Mourning its dearly missed star, Chadwick Boseman, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” was a box office triumph. James Cameron’s “Avatar” planned a December return.

    Then there was Tom Cruise, turning 60 in ’22, just like the Rolling Stones, swooping into Cannes with his most successful movie, and showing, like those still-touring rockers, that when they tell you “The end is inevitable,” as they do in “Top Gun: Maverick,” you can always reply “Maybe so, sir, but not today.”

    Will audiences one day find Cruise – or the Stones, for that matter – too wrinkled and past the sell-by date? Maybe so, but not this year.

    Our annual, totally selective journey through a year in pop culture:

    JANUARY

    It’s GOLDEN GLOBES time. But is a Globes with no telecast, boozy celebs or red carpet a Globes at all? The embattled Hollywood Foreign Press Association, reeling from stunning failures over diversity, holds a private event and plans a comeback next year. Hey, remember the original wardrobe malfunction? Well, JANET JACKSON says she and JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE have moved on, and so should we. The New York Times buys Wordle, and we’re all thinking in five-letter words (though W-O-R-D-L-E is six, just saying.) Meanwhile, it’s a month of loss, heading off a year of loss: pioneering Black actor, director and activist SIDNEY POITIER dies at 94.

    FEBRUARY

    What would a year in pop culture be without BRITNEY? Just months after her liberation from her restrictive conservatorship, Spears is reported to have signed a mammoth book deal, but at year’s end we’re still waiting for news. RIHANNA is pregnant! TOM BRADY retires! (Stay tuned, on that one.) TAYLOR watch: JAKE GYLLENHAAL speaks out, saying he really has nothing to do with that song, that it’s about an artist’s relationship with her fans — but fans shouldn’t be cyberbullying, either.

    MARCH

    Quick, who wins Oscars this month? Well, “CODA” does, a feel-good drama with a largely deaf cast, and TROY KOTSUR becomes the first deaf actor to win an acting Oscar. Alas, all anyone can talk about is — you know. SMITH, who wins the best actor award not long after slapping Rock over a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, won’t truly address the issue until the end of the year, so keep reading. KARDASHIAN watch: Kim K is declared legally single again in her ongoing divorce with YE, the rapper formerly known as KANYE WEST. And BRADY, retired for 40 days, says, “Never mind!”

    APRIL

    It’s GRAMMY time, and JON BATISTE wins big, taking five statuettes. The musician’s huge year will later include performing at the first state dinner of the Biden administration, for French President Emmanuel Macron. The next day Macron will meet with MUSK (thanks for the segue, Monsieur le President) who begins his acquisition of TWITTER this month, leading to untold – and still unfolding – changes at the social media giant.

    MAY

    So imagine you’re sipping cocktails at the MET GALA and a musician comes sauntering through, playing the melodica — of course it’s BATISTE, because the Met Gala’s that kind of crazy party. The biggest splash of the night, though, is KARDASHIAN, on the arm of boyfriend PETE DAVIDSON, wearing the same sequined, skin tight gown MARILYN MONROE wore to sing “Happy Birthday” to JFK in 1962. In movies, “Top Gun: Maverick” opens, the highest-grossing domestic debut in CRUISE’S career, and his first to surpass $100 million on opening weekend. HARRY STYLES fans rejoice! His album, “Harry’s House,” is here.

    JUNE

    Stunning news for the global fanbase of BTS as the K-pop supergroup announces it’s taking a break to focus on members’ solo projects. On the legal front, a Virginia jury hands DEPP a victory in his very messy libel case over allegations of domestic abuse, finding that former wife HEARD defamed him in a 2018 op-ed. On a happier note, Britney gets married….

    JULY

    Only one wedding, Britney? BENNIFER has two! Maybe what happens usually stays in Vegas, but not when you have 227 million followers on Instagram. With a winking reference to being a “Sadie” (married lady) JENNIFER LOPEZ directs fans to her newsletter where she shares pics of her quickie wedding to BEN AFFLECK. “Love is beautiful,” she writes. “And it turns out love is patient.” Speaking of patience, fans of BEYONCÉ are rewarded for theirs, with the release of her long-awaited seventh studio album, “Renaissance,” her first solo album in six years.

    AUGUST

    So, we were saying …. Bennifer’s second wedding , on Affleck’s compound in Georgia, is bigger and fancier. One wedding, one split: KARDASHIAN and DAVIDSON are no longer. In other summer news, the world remembers Princess Diana, whose shocking death in a car crash happened 25 years ago, and whose life is being rehashed for a new generation in the current season of “The Crown.” And only days later, that same Netflix series will pause production briefly as a mark of respect for Queen Elizabeth II as Britain — and the world — mourn the beloved monarch, who dies at age 96 after more than 70 years on the throne.

    SEPTEMBER

    Mounting political intrigue in Europe, and by that we mean … did spit fly at the Venice premiere of “Don’t Worry Darling”? Either way the movie, directed by OLIVIA WILDE and starring her boyfriend (alleged spitter STYLES), is saddled – or blessed? – with more than its share of extracurricular drama. At the EMMYS, behold SHERYL LEE RALPH, who wins for “Abbott Elementary” and schools the crowd on the power of dreams and self-belief. “This is what believing looks like,” she says. You know what else believing looks like? Rachel Berry from “Glee” – aka LEA MICHELE – at last getting to play Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” on Broadway. In sports, with four rueful words that resonate with working moms everywhere, SERENA WILLIAMS says she’s stepping aside from tennis, because: “Something’s got to give.”

    OCTOBER

    The second HARVEY WEINSTEIN trial opens in Los Angeles. ADIDAS drops YE, part of a cascade of companies that will sever ties with the rapper over his antisemitic and other troubling comments. The MUSK era begins at TWITTER as the world’s richest man carries a sink into the office, to “let that sink in.” HEIDI KLUM’s Halloween costume is a slimy, glistening rain worm. But before the month worms away from us, let’s cede it to SWIFT for dropping her new album, “Midnights” (Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day), then adding seven bonus tracks, then becoming the first artist to occupy all top 10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Let THAT sink in! P.S. Celebrity divorce watch: BRADY and wife GISELE BUNDCHEN split.

    NOVEMBER

    Did we say LAST month was Taylor Swift month? Well now, millions of eager fans crowd a presale for her much-awaited Eras Tour, resulting in crashes and endless waits. Ticketmaster cancels the general sale, citing insufficient stock. Multiple state attorneys general announce investigations. Takeaway: People want Taylor Swift tickets. At the multiplex, they also want their Wakanda. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” meets the double challenge of following up one of the biggest blockbusters in history and losing its biggest star.

    DECEMBER

    Love ‘em or hate ’em, here come HARRY and MEGHAN again, with a Netflix “documentary” being watched very, very closely by royalty across the pond. Cameron’s “AVATAR” sequel finally appears, 13 years after the original broke records. Will viewers flock to Pandora once again? And bringing the year full circle, SMITH emerges to promote his new film, “EMANCIPATION,” and hoping people will forget about … what was it? … at least enough to check out the movie.

    In this year of comebacks, will Smith’s be the biggest?

    Check back with us in 2023.

    Source link

  • R. Kelly Manager Sentenced For Calling In Shooting Threat At Theater

    R. Kelly Manager Sentenced For Calling In Shooting Threat At Theater

    NEW YORK (AP) — R. Kelly’s onetime manager was sentenced Monday to a year in federal prison for calling in a shooting threat that halted a screening of a damning documentary about the R&B star.

    The punishment won’t add to the time ex-manager Donnell Russell is already set to serve for a different effort to squelch sexual abuse claims against Kelly.

    Russell told a Manhattan federal judge Monday that he had “made bad judgments” while briefly working with the Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling singer.

    “I’m not a horrible person,” Russell said.

    Russell said he reconnected with Kelly, a fellow Chicagoan he’d met decades earlier, as the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer was facing a growing series of accusations that eventually fueled Kelly’s sex trafficking and racketeering conviction last year. Russell said he set out to help Kelly with intellectual property matters that he thought could yield the performer money to pay legal bills.

    But prosecutors said Russell also worked on something else: trying to suppress the abuse allegations. He tried to intimidate at least one accuser, threatened to sue over Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” series and eventually phoned in the warning that shut down the documentary’s 2018 Manhattan premiere, according to prosecutors.

    The series spotlighted allegations that Kelly had sexually abused women and girls. Some accusers were set to speak at a panel discussion after the premiere.

    The phone call claimed that someone at the event had a gun and intended to fire. The screening was canceled and the theater evacuated.

    “I was happy that it ended. I didn’t question how it ended,” Russell said in court Monday, adding that he recognizes that people have “a moral obligation” to make sure that things they get involved in are proper.

    Prosecutors linked Russell to the episode through phone records and a text he sent about police potentially arriving at the venue. At trial, his defense argued that there were lots of phone calls to the theater that day and that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove he committed a crime.

    A jury convicted Russell in July of threatening physical harm through interstate communication, while acquitting him of conspiracy.

    Days after the verdict, Russell pleaded guilty to an interstate stalking charge involving one of Kelly’s sexual abuse accusers. A Brooklyn federal judge sentenced Russell last month to 20 months in prison for conduct that included sending threatening messages to the woman and later publishing explicit photos of her online.

    Russell, 47, is due to turn himself in next year to serve his sentences in both cases simultaneously.

    At Monday’s sentencing, U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe said Russell had engaged in “serious criminal conduct” in “a misguided attempt to protect someone who was a prolific abuser.”

    Kelly was sentenced in June to 30 years in prison in his sex trafficking and racketeering case in Brooklyn federal court.

    In September, a Chicago federal jury convicted him of producing child pornography and enticing girls for sex, though jurors cleared him of a charge of rigging his state-level child pornography trial in 2008. He is set to be sentenced Feb. 23 in that case.

    Kelly also faces state-level charges in Chicago and in Minnesota related to sexual misconduct allegations. He has pleaded not guilty in Chicago. The singer has yet to be brought to Minnesota’s Hennepin County to answer the charges there, but one of his lawyers called the case “beyond absurd” when it was announced.

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  • R. Kelly’s Former Manager Donnell Russell Sentenced To Prison For Stalking Abuse Victim

    R. Kelly’s Former Manager Donnell Russell Sentenced To Prison For Stalking Abuse Victim

    By Shakiel Mahjouri.
    Published:

    R. Kelly’s former manager, Donnell Russell, is joining the disgraced artist in prison.

    Russell was sentenced to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty in July to using threats, harassment and intimidation, according to Billboard. Russell stalked one of Kelly’s sexual abuse victims in an effort to silence her.


    READ MORE:
    Woman Claims R. Kelly Abused Her ‘Hundreds’ Of Times While She Was Underage, Confirms She’s In Video At Heart Of Child Porn Trial

    Prosecutors called for 24 to 30 months of prison time, pointing to Russell’s “abhorrent” behaviour and dozens of prior arrests.

    “If victims are concerned that this type of conduct will not be adequately punished, it could chill victims from pursuing legal remedies and from cooperating with law enforcement investigations,” prosecutors argued.

    Russell’s lawyers fought for probation, arguing that their client had led an “otherwise exemplary life” before “crossing the line in his attempts to curry favor with Robert Kelly.”


    READ MORE:
    R. Kelly Convicted Of Six Counts In Federal Trial In Chicago; Co-Defendants Acquitted

    Russell was previously convicted in July after calling in a gunfire threat that forced the cancellation of Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” series at a theatre in Manhattan, New York.

    Musical artist Kelly was convicted in 2021 on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, ultimately being sentenced to 30 years in prison.

    Shakiel Mahjouri

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