R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison 6/29/22 Transcript

Speaker 1: (00:00)
News to bring to you here this afternoon. We do now know that R&B star R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison, this happening on Wednesday, for using his stardom to subject young fans, some just children, to sexual abuse. He is 55 years old. He is a singer and songwriter. He was now convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking last year at a trial that gave voice to accusers who had once wondered if their stories were being ignored because they were black women. We did have one of the judges imposing the sentence after hearing from several survivors who had attested to how Kelly’s exploitation had really affected their lives. Just one of those individuals, an unnamed survivor, directly addressing Kelly who kept his hands folded, his eyes downcast, saying, “You made me do things that broke my spirit. I literally wish I would die because of how low you made me feel. Do you remember that?”

Speaker 1: (01:01)
Now Kelly did not address the court. The sentence caps a slow motion fall for Kelly who was adored by fans, sold millions of albums even after allegations of his abuse to young girls had been circulating publicly in the 1990s. So this, again, just coming down here this afternoon. Wanted to bring it to all of our viewers who have been watching here with us on Live Now from Fox. R. Kelly continuing to deny any wrongdoing. He didn’t testify at his trial, but his then lawyers had portrayed his accusers as girlfriends and groupies who weren’t forced to do anything against their will, had stayed with him because they enjoyed the perks of his lifestyle. So R. Kelly had been jailed. He’s been jailed without bail since 2019, still facing child pornography and obstruction of justice charges in Chicago where a trial date set to begin in August on the 15th.