Intriguing article, I picked it up from the NPHC Topica list.
Real Talk with John Fagerholm: R. Kelly And The Court Of Public
Opinion
written by John W. Fagerholm, Esq.
Friday - June 7, 2002
Another talented and successful brother bites the dust. I was never a big R. Kelly fan, but I hate to see anyone who works his way up from the bottom take a fall. (At least we now know where his inspiration for all those raunchy ballads came from.)
I don't fault R. Kelly for having some freak in him, but sex with underage girls is illegal. And just as Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) and several Catholic Priests should be punished if they are found guilty for sex acts with little boys, R. Kelly should also be punished when he is found guilty of committing sex acts with little girls.
R. Kelly is in the fight of his life to stay out of jail. But regardless of
the outcome, I don't think he will ever recover from the bad publicity that has been generated. A long standing tenet of our judicial system is "a person is innocent until proven guilty." But in the court of public opinion the inference is always that you are guilty until you can prove your innocence beyond an absolute doubt and even then there will still be doubters of your innocence.
In R. Kelly's case, he made it very easy for us
all to infer his guilt by videotaping the whole dirty deed.
There have been several other artists who have been part of similar scandals and have recovered or even gained more notoriety because of the scandal. Most notably, Michael Jackson was accused several years ago of inappropriate behavior with young boys and he is still going strong as ever. The distinction between R. Kelly and Michael Jackson is that there was not any
real proof that Michael Jackson acted inappropriately with any children. The only evidence was the accusations of a father who lost credibility by demanding money for keeping quiet. There was never any proof of molestation and the police dropped all criminal charges for lack of evidence.
There is no doubt in my mind that R. Kelly will be convicted of the crimes he is charged with. The video clearly depicts him having sex.
(Note to criminals: Do not record your crimes under any circumstances). The only question remaining is whether the females that are engaging in sex with him are of legal consenting age.
I don't think the video is proof in itself of the age of the females because it is very difficult to determine age just by looking. However, I am sure that the prosecutors and investigators in this case have located the females depicted in the video and determined their ages at the time the video was
made. In a high-profile case where the accused has the money to fight his conviction, the prosecutors would not have brought an indictment unless they had the proof needed to make it stick.
Even if R. Kelly is not convicted and he continues to make music, I do not think the music industry will be quick to forgive his misdeeds. R. Kelly is going to find it very difficult to find any players in the industry that will back any of his projects. My guess is that R. Kelly will be black-balled from the industry in the same way that Rob Lowe was black-balled from the film and television industry for nearly a decade.
For those of you who don't know the story, during the Republican National Convention in the early nineties, Rob Lowe met a girl at a bar for persons 21 and older. All the evidence showed that Rob Lowe did not have knowledge that the girl was only sixteen, but it took nearly a decade for him to be accepted back into the folds of the industry because he videotaped himself having sex with a girl who was later discovered to be underage.
If I were R. Kelly, I would have fled to Brazil. There is no extradition treaty with the US, the exchange rate is favorable and the legal age of consent is 14.
John W. Fagerholm, Esq. is a music attorney based in the Los Angeles area. He represents several multi-platinum artists and producers and a grammy nominated artist. Mr. Fagerholm also represents several successful independent record labels, radio personalities, and management and booking agencies. For his clients, he negotiates and drafts recording, producing, and distribution agreements, among others; administrates publishing; forms entertainment companies; registers trademarks and copyrights; and litigates disputes. Contact him at johnfag-@aol.com.