Although I have been missing from the blogging scene for a while I have been paying very close attention to the R.Kelly trial. It’s been SIX YEARS since Robert Kelly has been charged with having sexual intercourse with a 13 year old girl after a sex tape featuring the two was sold around the country. The tape it appears was made in 1998-99. Kelly has vehemently denied that the man on the tape is him along with the accused victim, who by chance is former singer Sparkles niece.

The trial has begun and so far four people have taken the stand to identify Kelly and the young girl. The girl, who is now twenty-three years old, former bestfriend, identified her as and Kelly. However the most controversial witness is Sparkle, who claims that Kelly paid her niece like a prostitute before engaging in sexual acts with the child in his home.

 According to the Chicago Tribune:

  ·         The loud bickering began when Genson asked if someone could have doctored the illicit video to make it appear as if Kelly were paying a young girl to perform various sex acts. Edwards, who wore cosmetic glitter under her left eye to provide her trademark “sparkle,” gave a snide smile.“I know my family,” she said. “I know them. Trust me.”“And so you know and believe your [relative] took money from Robert Kelly and then had sex with him, which is on that tape?” Genson asked. “That’s what you know?”“Just like he made her do,” Edwards said, struggling to maintain her composure. “You see she’s a robot on that tape.”Genson then tried to make Edwards acknowledge she didn’t know who made the tape.“Robert made the tape,” she answered, her voice growing louder. “You can clearly see him setting it up, passing my [relative] some money, like she is a prostitute.”

Genson suggested Edwards hoped to profit from the tape because she spoke with a lawyer about it before talking to the police.“Sweetie, I am not trying to get money from anybody,” Edwards said.“I’m not your sweetie,” Genson snapped.Cook County Circuit Judge Vincent Gaughan halted the testimony and ordered the two to calm down. Stunned jurors stole sideways glances with each other as a few tried to stifle laughter.Kelly, who rarely looked at Edwards during her testimony, stared straight ahead with no expression on his face.

I have been a R.Kelly fan for years and a tiny part of me hopes that this was all orchestrated to take down the most talented African American songwriter and singer in the business but it doesn’t seem this way. There is some damning evidence and unless Kelly can prove he is a innocent man being prosecuted for another’s acts then he will be seeing the big house. By the way it doesn’t help much that he married singer Aaliyah when she was just 15 and is now accused of sexually molesting his niece!!

The DRAMA!