R. Kelly: Downfall of a Legend and Lessons for Nigerian Artistes

Glitz  focus

For long, the US R&B singer’s fame shielded him from the long arm of the law. But it all came tumbling down last week when a judge found him guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking, Vanessa Obioha writes how R. Kelly’s downfall shows that not even fame can save a celebrity from the law  

Celebrities are often viewed as untouchable, particularly those that have gained worldwide popularity and recorded outstanding successes in their field of career. The ‘almighty’ persona attached to their character, shields them from thorough public scrutiny and even on occasions when such inspection is required, it is drowned by fans who idolise them. Thus, they can do no wrong in their eyes given their perfect public imagery.

But celebrities, be it pastors, actors, filmmakers, musicians, producers, or politicians are nothing but mere mortals. While they project a perfect persona in public, they also have their demons to contain. Some are lucky to tame them, while others are controlled by them. These demons are perfectly kept away from the public, only glimpsed when the lights are turned off. Aggressively, they unleashed their depravities on their victims who, knowing their weaknesses, either succumb to their wishes or live forever in silence and shame.

However, since the #MeToo movement started in 2017 with the epic downfall of the American Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, more untouchable powerful figures have begun to feel the gavel. Powerful figures in Hollywood like Bill Cosby, the Black actor and stand-up comedian who lit up many homes with his TV shows, the American actor Kevin Spacey and the late American financier Jeffery Epstein have not been immune to the movement which seeks to bring powerful sexual predators to book.

Before #MeToo, attempts to convict celebrities of their crimes against women recorded few successes, usually due to a lack of evidence or witnesses. But nowadays, victims are no longer afraid to tell their stories.

Such was the case of R. Kelly, the American R&B singer who thrilled the world with many hit singles and even proclaimed himself as the World’s Greatest, a title his millions of fans did not object to.

On June 29, the singer was sentenced to 30 years in prison by Judge Ann Donnelly who found him guilty of racketeering and sexual trafficking.

News of Kelly’s sexual tendencies has been whispered in the past, starting with his marriage to the late singer Aaliyah when she was 15 years old, and he 27. Attempts to bring him to book have not been as impactful as the latest.

It all started in 1994 when a US magazine, Vibe published a report on his illegal marriage to Aaliyah. By 2000, another publication Chicago Sun-Times reported an investigation that the singer was keeping sexual relations with underage girls. In 2002, he was accused of child pornography and again was found not guilty. Yet the singer’s fame was not tarnished.  Even a 2008 criminal trial that suggested he was having sex with an underage girl in a 27-minute clip did not bring him down. So his ego grew such that hours after his trial, he sang with children at a church in Chicago.

Kelly was believed to have perfected his craft at projecting innocence and harmlessness that it was hard to believe his victims. But things began to take a different path with the rise of #MeToo.

First came the protest campaign #MuteRKelly against his music, followed by the Lifetime documentary ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ in 2019 which detailed the sexual abuse allegations against the singer. A sequel ‘Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning’ premiered in 2020.  New allegations from accusers began to spring up, making it inevitable for the singer to evade the law. According to the New York Times, the government constructed a sweeping case against Kelly, with evidence that extended from recent years back to the early 1990s.

On September 27, 2021, after a series of testimonies from 11 accusers and more than 40 witnesses, Kelly was found guilty by a jury in New York which deliberated for nine hours and found him guilty of nine counts in the federal case, including racketeering and eight violations of an anti-sex trafficking law known as the Mann Act. The trial lasted for six weeks.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes in wrapping up the case noted that Kelly “used lies, manipulation, threats, and physical abuse to dominate his victims,” and accused Kelly of “grooming girls and boys for sexual activity despite the fact that they were too young to consent.”

The same line of thoughts were echoed by Judge Donnelly who read out Kelly’s sentence. She said: “This case is not about sex. It’s about violence and cruelty and control. You had a system in place that lured young people into your orbit — and then you took over their lives.” She added that Kelly taught his victims that love is enslavement and violence.

One of the women who testified in court before Kelly’s sentencing said she had sex with the entertainer in 1999 when she was 17, and still often finds herself “sobbing uncontrollably at random times of the day.”

Another woman who spoke in court under a pseudonym said: “We reclaim our names from beneath the shadow of your inflicted trauma. We are no longer the preyed-upon individuals we once were. We will be able to live again.”

Kelly still faces an August 15 trial in Chicago on federal charges for producing child pornography and luring minors into sex acts. The downfall of the musician who became a global sensation with hits like ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ is a strong indication that fame cannot prevent one from the long arm of the law.

In a country like Nigeria, where the #MeToo movement has not really gained significant ground, celebrities who have been accused of one sexual crime or the other are still roaming the streets. Like Kelly, a day of reckoning beckons but first, Nigeria needs to have strong institutions. If celebrities can have the police, lawyers and justices on their payroll, what hope can victims cling to?

Constantly, Nigerians are inundated with news of superstars and the rich and famous maltreating or molesting women, fighting at nightclubs, ordering their bodyguards to beat up people or driving against traffic. Sometimes, under the influence of alcohol, they recklessly run the vehicles into people, with security agencies allowing them to get away as long as they can “settle” them.

For these set of people who are in the habit of committing these infractions, a day of reckonging may not be too far away.