R. Kelly’s struggles continue. YouTube has announced that they’ve removed the ‘Half on a Baby’ singer official channels from their site. The news comes amid Kelly being convicted of nine charges of racketeering and sex trafficking in his Brooklyn criminal trial. A spokesperson for the platform released a statement that YouTube has taken down Kelly’s video channels, R. Kelly TV, and R. Kelly Vevo. Per the rep, they did so “in accordance with [YouTube’s] creator responsibility guidelines.”
Channel owners convicted of certain crimes may be barred from the platform if the content they produce is closely related to the crime. Kelly falls under that line. Songs of Kelly’s uploaded by other channels can remain, as they do not violate the creator responsibility guidelines. As a result, Kelly’s catalog can remain available on the YouTube Music service.
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“Egregious actions committed by R. Kelly warrant penalties beyond standard enforcement measures due to a potential to cause widespread harm,” YouTube’s Nicole Alston, who is the head of legal, wrote in an official statement, which was viewed by Bloomberg. “Ultimately we are taking this action to protect our users similar to other platforms.” Moving forward, Kelly is also forbidden from owning or creating more YouTube channels. Any accounts found from him can be terminated.
Kelly’s legal trouble is far from over. He faces similar charges in at least three other states, including Missouri, Georgia, and his home state of Illinois. He faces sentencing for his Brooklyn case in May 2022. Kelly could be sentenced to a minimum of 10 years to life in that case. His legal team has already vowed to appeal the jury’s decision.
His lawyers were not convinced that he’d be found guilty of all charges, telling USA TODAY: “The nature of a (Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organization) RICO case typically fits that of Mafia or drug kingpins directing their underlings to do various (illegal) things and this is a far different scenario. I didn’t think the jury would believe that (Kelly) and the band were a ‘criminal enterprise,’” said one of Kelly’s lawyers Michael Irving Leonard.
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