Kelly is being tried for racketeering and sex trafficking, there is a three-story billboard of his most famous protégé and victim, the late singer Aaliyah, who is portrayed with her eyes closed and her hands on her hips, underneath the message “Aaliyah is coming.” The billboard is meant to promote the recent release of Aaliyah’s music on streaming platforms. In lower Manhattan, across the East River from the federal courthouse where the R. Since then, he has since been sentenced to 30 years in prison following his conviction on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering.Aaliyah died in a plane crash in the Bahamas, in August, 2001, at the age of twenty-two Photograph by Sal Idriss / Redferns / Getty Kelly series, which originally launched in 2019. Surviving R Kelly: The Final Chapter is the final instalment of the Surviving R. But what she went through, we can’t turn our backs on.” “We have had a lot of conversations about how to tell Aaliyah’s story every time because we really want to be respectful of her legacy. The series’ executive producer Jesse Daniels told Variety that the producing team was careful not to exploit Aaliyah in the docuseries, and hoped to highlight the abuse she tragically endured by R Kelly when she was a teenager. Most people in that camp knew that a lot of these girls were underage. He later said, “This was not a one-man operation. It’s impossible…It’s clear as day there were enablers,” Pratt continued. Kelly as “running a criminal enterprise.” Another expert said “everyone had a financial incentive to look the other way.” One prosecutor who appeared as a legal expert in the docuseries described R. The docuseries also examined the role played by those around Kelly who enabled him, either by turning a blind eye to his abuse over three decades or helping him see his victims, such as by booking flights for underage girls to travel across state lines. Various on-camera guests in Surviving R Kelly described the marriage as a way to get R Kelly to avoid jail time for statutory rape of a minor.Īaliyah in 2001. He also alleged that Aaliyah’s family had a contractual arrangement with R Kelly that stated they wouldn’t press charges against him for the illegal marriage after it was annulled in exchange for Kelly selling them the rights to his first three albums. Gem Pratt, Kelly’s childhood friend and former security, claimed that Aaliyah’s father was furious over the marriage and forced the annulment – “Her dad didn’t want her anywhere near him.” Others who were close with both Kelly and Aaliyah also gave details in the docuseries about the legal agreement that was allegedly forged between Kelly and Aaliyah’s family.Īccording to a statement aired in the series, Aaliyah’s family declined to comment. Several individuals who were part of Kelly’s team and who witnessed the marriage were interviews and expressed their regret over letting it proceed. Aaliyah’s parents annulled the marriage six months later. They married in secret in August 1994, when Aaliyah was 15 and Kelly was 27, but the marriage certificate falsified her age as 18. Kelly mentored Aaliyah and has songwriter and producer credits on her 1994 debut album ‘Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number’, which was released when she was 14. Surviving R Kelly: The Final Chapter spotlights Aaliyah as another of Kelly’s victims after years of the media and music industry scandalising the pair’s marriage in the 90s. The use of NDAs has become a prominent issue in sexual harassment cases in the post-#MeToo era, highlighting the legal means through which perpetrators or even corporations can silence their victims. Aaliyah, who died in 2001, was listed as Jane Doe #1 in the trial. The two-parter focused on the disgraced artist’s 2022 federal trial, in which the aforementioned NDA was brought up as evidence against him. The allegations were made in the final episode of the Lifetime Surviving R Kelly: The Final Chapter docuseries, which aired on January 2 and 3. R Kelly silenced Aaliyah and her family with a non-disclosure agreement after the annulment of his marriage to the then-15-year-old singer.
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