Update: Jury Deliberates in R. Kelly Trial, Singer Slapped With Another Charge This Week
By Njai Joszor
Posted on 06/13/08
Just as R. Kelly’s child pornography trial went to jury Thursday, the singer found out that he has been slapped with yet another lawsuit.
According to recent reports, Henry Vaughn also known as “Uncle Henry Love,” says he is responsible for Kelly’s success and now wants compensation.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Vaughn says he inspired Kelly to take up the stepping dance moves that mark many of his songs. Even though Kelly thanks him in the hit single "Step in the Name of Love" and on the song "Love Signals," Vaughn’s suit asks for compensation due to the fact that he suggested Kelly turn to those step-based dance shows to appeal to a "more mature" audience and help his image after accusations surfaced that he taped himself having sex with an under-age girl.
In the suit Vaughn also claims the two were alone in 2001 when they made a "verbal contract" after he taught Kelly the step moves and the appropriate dress and culture of the dance to share in any proceeds from the step-based songs.
According to the Chicago Sun Times, Kelly spokesman Allan Mayer called Vaughn a "disgruntled former employee" who was fired and now thinks he can "extort money" from Kelly. He called the suit "ridiculous."
In related news, the R&B star’s child pornography trial went to the jury Thursday with prosecutors calling Kelly a sexual predator while his attorneys argued that the singer has been wrongly accused and is possibly the victim of an extortion plot.
In closing arguments, Cook County Prosecutor Robert Heilingoetter said Kelly preyed on young girls and was clearly the man on a videotape exploiting a teenage protege as young as 13.
"The opportunity to hold him responsible ... will never come again," he told jurors.
Heilingoetter once more showed jurors the videotape at the heart of the case, which features oral sex, masturbation and other explicit acts.
Kelly is charged with 14 counts of videotaping, producing or soliciting child pornography. If convicted of all charges, the 41-year-old Grammy Award winner could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
I am glad this is over. I have been a true fan of R. Kelly for years. I like R. Kelly as an artist but not as a person , he sucks. If indeed he is guilty of these charges he will answer to a higher person.........
veronica dennard
6/13/2008 2:25:53 PM
regardless if she was willing and ready, he is an adult. and as an adult, it is adult's responsibility to hold for their own actions. he is a sexual predator. he is no different from the men we see on tv who molestes young girls. It awes me when people beg for justice when a man molestes a boy or when a man molestes a girl, but when anyone who has a "star status" then we look at it different. R. kelly is one of the greatest singers of love song of all time. iI enjoy his music, but at times i wonder if he is talking about a woman or a child. And as a black american, sometimes we do have to sit aside and say that wrong is wrong. sexual abuse is not a racism issue where we stand by our own, but it is a sickness that has to be dealt with.
nicole lee
6/13/2008 1:58:53 PM
Thats crazy he shouldn't be going throught all of this. that little girl was willing and ready and also know everything that was going to happen after all this was said and done.
