The first male accuser has taken to the stand during R Kelly’s ongoing trial in New York and claimed he sexually assaulted him as a teenager.
The 54-year-old has pled not guilty to all of the nine charges in this case and claims no wrongdoing. He faces one charge of racketeering and eight violations of the Mann Act, which criminalises the transportation of any woman or girl across state lines for immoral purposes, including illegal sexual activity. The trial has been delayed multiple times due to coronavirus, and now he’s finally in a courtroom.
Yesterday, a man using the pseudonym Louis, accused Kelly of sexually assaulting him when he was 17. He met Kelly when he was working in McDonald’s in Chicago with dreams to become a rapper, and after getting Kelly’s number, his mother arranged for the singer to help her son with his passion.
Allegedly, he travelled to Kelly’s studio twice after the party to record music with him. The Guardian state that on one occasion, Kelly even asked him “what I was willing to do for music”.
Louis claimed to reply: “I’ll carry your bags […] Anything you need, I’ll be willing to do.” He said that Kelly then responded, “That’s not it. That’s not it”, he then allegedly asked Louis ever fantasised about having sex with men before Kelly apparently got “down on his knees and proceeded to give me oral sex” and afterwards told the man to keep the incident “between him and me”. He added that Kelly even said: “We’re family now. We’re brothers.”
Furthermore, on another occasion at the singer’s home, Louis said that Kelly had “snapped his fingers three times”, and a naked girl appeared from under a boxing ring to give them both oral sex. He even claimed Kelly recorded their sexual encounters and instructed him to refer to him as “daddy”. Despite being uncomfortable, he said he “really wanted to make it in the music industry”, so he kept in contact with Kelly.
Meanwhile, a woman named Addie also stood against Kelly on Monday. She told the court that two days after he illegally married Aaliyah, she saw him at a concert, where she was invited backstage and was sexually assaulted.
The trial continues.
