R. Kelly is currently standing his second trial in connection to years of allegations. The R&B star has already been found guilty in the state of New York, and now he is looking at more time for his trial in Chicago, IL. For the entirety of his cases, several people have come forward with accounts about things they’ve seen over the years that have aided in helping bring justice. In exchange for their confessions, many have gotten off. Could R. Kelly possibly get a lighter sentence if he snitches on some of the people that might have similar secret lives as him?
For R. Kelly to run such a complicated ring, it took a lot of people over the years. The system of tour managers, assistants, and even parents made it possible for him to have whatever girl he wanted whenever he wanted her. Many people have come forward with accounts of how they helped aid Kelly in all his pursuits.
Demetrius Smith was a former tour manager tasked with helping Kelly get a fake ID for singer Aaliyah during their relationship. According to Demetrius, R. Kelly approached him very upset and worried that he might have gotten the underage singer pregnant and needed to marry her just in case things went left. Smith then bribed a social worker he knew to help him get the document forged. This is how R. Kelly was able to marry Aaliyah.
Smith reluctantly testified last summer in exchange for any charges against him to be bypassed. Appearing in court via a video call, Demetrius Smith, 65, testified reluctantly and told US District Judge Ann Donnelly he “didn’t want to be here, period.” He struggled through his account, often stopping to consult his lawyer or read his testimony from a document.
Smith is not the only person who helped Kelly over the years. His former assistant Diana Copeland also testified in court and opened up about things she had to do for Kelly over their 16-year work relationship. During her time with Robert, Copeland ran his estate. She recalled in a Good Morning America interview how R. Kelly enforced strict rules in his home that prohibited guests from wandering the property. He also had several live-in girlfriends who all had their own bedrooms.
“He had, like, three properties. In those properties, there was, like, a certain decorum that was expected,” Copeland said in her GMA interview. “He pretty much didn’t want, not just the girls to move around, but he didn’t want anybody to just roam his house like a museum.” The women were also not allowed to speak to other men even in passing and often asked Copeland to communicate with other men on their behalf. Copeland maintains that she never witnessed abuse, nor was any of the women underage, so she did not receive any type of charges for helping him run his estate.
The family behind the infamous ’90s adult tape that first got R. Kelly in trouble recently confessed to lying under oath about it to protect themselves from Robert. Going under aliases, Jane and her mother recently admitted that she was the girl in the clip and, indeed, underage at the time of filming. They allege that Robert and his lawyers threatened them and sent the family on vacation during the initial trial so that they could not testify. He then began helping them financially, giving her father a job, funding her mother’s business, and making several donations under the name of his company.
Singer Kelly Price said in a Vlad TV interview that while she never personally saw R. Kelly with an underage girl, she is aware that it is common in the entertainment industry for families to push their daughters onto high-powered men in hopes of money and opportunities. With stories come as far back as the 60s and 70s about grown men grooming young women (Bill Cosby, George Foreman) might Kelly really not be the only one? Furthermore, with so many people being granted immunity in his case for their confessions, could Robert possibly get less time if he tells on some of his famous friends that may have engaged in similar antics? Who else was secretly living this type of lifestyle?
