R. Kelly is fighting back after he lost a civil lawsuit by default earlier this week. He was expected in Cook County Circuit Court but pulled a no-show.
According to TMZ, his legal counsel says he was simply “overwhelmed” by his mounting legal issues and didn’t know how to proceed. Now, his attorney is attempting to combat the loss.
Kelly was sued by Chicago resident Heather Williams in February after she claimed he’d sexually abused her when she was only 16. The disgraced R&B singer is currently facing 10 counts of criminal sexual abuse and has pleaded not guilty.
Williams’ attorney, Jeffrey Deutschman, attempted to settle out of court, but received no response to the legal letter. Williams said she also tried serving Kelly at Trump Tower but couldn’t get through security. Finally, she was able to serve him while he was in jail for unpaid child support earlier this year.
Kelly’s civil attorney, Brian Nix, explained, “R. Kelly was served while incarcerated on the child support case and he was overwhelmed by the experience of being in jail.”
Williams won a default judgment against Kelly when he failed to show up.
[This article has been updated. The original version was published on April 24, 2019 and can be found below.]
R. Kelly was expected at Cook County Circuit Court this week but failed to show up. As a result, the embattled R&B singer lost the civil lawsuit by default, according to The Chicago Tribune.
He was expected to address the allegations he’d sexually abused an underage girl in the late ’90s. The now-36-year-old woman filed the suit in February, alleging Kelly had participated in sexual acts with her multiple times in June 1998 when she was only 16.
Judge Moira Johnson granted the attorneys’ request to enter a judgment against Kelly on Tuesday (April 23), which could still be reversed if Kelly hires an attorney to handle the suit.
However, if Kelly doesn’t opt for legal counsel, he could be forced pay damages as soon as next month when the woman is expected to testify about her allegations against Kelly. The alleged victim’s attorney, Jeffrey Deutschman, said her testimony will likely take place in the judge’s chambers.
Kelly is currently facing 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four different alleged victims, three of whom were underage when the alleged abuse occurred.
The woman, who is identified as H.W. in the court docs, is one of the 10 women in the middle of the pending charges.
In the suit, she talked about how she initially met the music superstar. H.W. says Kelly drove up to talk to her as she walked outside in May 1998. Later that day, H.W. says one of his entourage members met her at a restaurant and told her Kelly wanted to speak with her. She was then invited to his studio.
While the woman had then hoped to land a role in a music video, she says the two ended up having consistent sexual contact instead.
The suit explains it was only years later through therapy H.W. discovered her “great shame, guilt, self-blame, confusion, depression” and other emotional distress had resulted from Kelly’s alleged sexual abuse.
Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all 10 counts.
even IF he were innocent why not hire legal consul? his reasoning its too expensive, i rather look horrible to the pubic and pay HW #inb4tripleOGmuddlespost
He can’t afford to be found guilty of this before the trial for his life. The main point now is to not go to jail for the rest of his life. He can clean this up later. To appear in court and actually be found guilty of this could ruin his chances of beating the other charges. He has a chance now since there seems to be a vendetta against him with a Michael Avenneti the attorney who has been indicted himself. Kelly is being strategic.
Would you like to comment on the fact that he was previously caught with child pornography on his camera but got off on a technicality because of a bad warrant?? I love how you’re talking like this is some kind of big conspiracy against him and he’s not into young girls at all lmao.
Not all of this BS is about underage girls though. They are saying they were abused and shit when many of them could have left at any stage.
Who was the adult tho? R Kelly was. Kids aren’t good at making rational decisions like adults are. And even if the girls consented it’s still ra.pe because they can’t legally consent at that age. Look at the all the reports of this guy with underage girls…. Remember Nas said he and Jay seen a 14 yo girl on his lap in the studio? And that R Kelly needed help for interest in young girls. Not to mention what they found in his house. The fact that he married a 15 yo girl. I’m sure you can see why most people aren’t going to believe his bullshit.
Why are you using the word ‘kids’ when most of these ‘women’ coming out and accusing him of abuse are overage. You are part of the problem. The state considers you an adult for a reason. Stop rewriting history.
They were minors when he was committing the offenses genius. It’s so funny too how you just avoided the whole other part of that comment too. Because there’s no defending this guy.
Bitches garbage.
Ignition (Remix), I Believe I Can Fly, Happy People, I Wish, I’m a Flirt Remix, Skin, When a Woman Loves, When a Woman’s Fed Up, Bump and Grind, Love Letter, Religious Love, I Admit, Step in the Name of Love, Down Low, It Seems Like You’re Ready, I Believe, Sound of a Victory, Your Body’s Callin’.
You forgot U Remind Me
Sorry. Too many classics.!
He would have been there, but he had to pee.
The scorching Pits of hell await this disgusting diseased dick pedophile
Smart business move if you don’t have the money for a good attorney. Just take it as a loss.
Omg u never shut yo ass
I don’t see how R Kelly can’t expect to make music that will sell anymore. He will absolutely never recover from this and nobody will ever want anything to do with him. Prison or no prison, he’s done full stop.
Nah. He’d still generate some cash from his music. I’d still listen to him and from what I’ve seen on twitter I’m not the only one.
Of course a few pedos and sympathizers on Twitter(Because twitter counts so much lol) will still listen to him and support the chomo. However the majority of people know R Kelly is a sick fuck and won’t support a child molester.
Pedo sympathizer, lol. Nice one sheep. Just because someone would listen to someone’s music who has done something doesn’t mean they support what they did. Judging by the fact that you’re on a hip hop site, if I look at what you listen to, chances are high that you listen to someone with a criminal history. Fkn hypocritical clown. Sit down.
First off if you’re listening to his music then ARE supporting him financially fucktard, you’re putting money in the pedos pocket you simpleton. Most people who have brains who don’t support what a pedo does, isn’t going to put money in they pocket shithead. And it’s funny how you’re trying to draw some kind of comparison between violent, drug dealer,or financial gain criminals with a child molester. Love to see you say that shit to the general population in prison lmao. There’s a reason they keep chomos separate in prison weirdo. You support a pedophile and you’re dumb af too, kill yourself.
And this moron doesn’t think there is power in social media. She must live under a rock.
He made 26k to perform for an hour in Illinois surprisingly. Go ahead and delete this comment dx
Just claim you’re too sick to think straight like that POS mayor of Baltimore did. You can get away with anything these days. Politicians and celebs are above the law anyway, even the z listers like Jussie.
Nah, he playing the system. If he went the world gets to see him get owned by this woman and then its 100% confirmed what kind of a mess R Kelly is. By avoiding the court and saying what he did he avoids being put on the spot.
I think he did the right thing by not showing up with the case being about sexual abuse and then prove it later. If it was about him having a relationship with a under-aged girl without her parents permission or kept her drugged up that would be different.
There’s only one cure for pedophellia…..