According to the Associated Press, a jury of nine men and three women found singer Robert Sylvester Kelly (a.k.a. R. Kelly) not guilty on all fourteen counts of child pornography. Based on the infamous videotape that caused the singer's arrest in 2002, illustrating an alleged R. Kelly engaging in sexual acts with an underage girl, the case has taken over six years to come to trial and has resulted in an unsurprising verdict.
Why is the culmination of this case so predictable? Maybe because during the lengthy controversy, neither Kelly nor his fans seemed to give the case as much weight as his music, as the forty-one year old singer from Chicago's projects continued to perform to sold-out audiences while he awaited trial. His monotonous tenor over his catchy yet formulaic melodies must have drowned out the allegations, continuing to make Kelly successful even if his reputation to many, was tarnished. The R. Kelly scandal seems to have only boosted his career, giving him more publicity as the Pied Piper of R&B, and not as a man charged with videotaping himself and a thirteen year old girl engaging in oral sex. Fame is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with when it comes to high-profile celebrity cases and R. Kelly's is no exception. Because if Kelly were found guilty, that would mean no more chart-topping classics like Trapped in the Closet: Chapters 1-76.5! And I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we've anxiously been awaiting the outcome of Kathy and Rufus's extramarital affairs.
What's next for the R&B superstar? Why, undoubtedly more club bangers and sexually suggestive ballads that make the ladies forget all about Kelly's marriage to a then 15 year old Aaliyah, a marriage that was later annulled by the now deceased singer's parents. Now turn up that music.
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