After more than 20 years of facing sexual abuse allegations, RnB singer and popstar R.kelly was finally sentenced to 30 years in jail for sexually abusing women and children, both girls and boys.
The sentence was ordained on Wednesday by US district judge Ann Donnelly at the federal court in Brooklyn after listening to several testimonies from victims exploited by R.kelly and how the experiences devastated their lives.
The conviction has since led to debates about whether or not his music should be cancelled across streaming platforms given the crimes he committed. On The Hear Me Out Show at RX RX Radio, presenter Daniel Omara said he would still listen to the music despite Kelly's crimes.
“We have lots of artists doing crazy stuff in the background that we had no idea of, and we loved their music before we found out. Do we stop playing it when they get burst and thrown in jail? I can't stop playing his music because, to be honest, it's great baby-making music,” said Daniel.
He condemned the crimes R.Kelly did against women and children saying that it would be unfair for people doing decent work to have sex racketeers “out here living their best lives”.
But although he believed R.Kelly deserves the punishment for his sexual crimes, he also insisted that he had some good music that he (Daniel) grew up listening to as a child and wouldn’t let go of now that Kelly has been convicted.
“I won’t lie that I’ll stop listening to R.kelly’s music because they’ve been on my love playlist since I was a teenager. Those times when I’d write letters and send dedications. I’m sticking to the music because it's terrific but not because I was supporting the stuff he was doing.”
He said some people argue that supporting Kelly’s music is partly why he rose to fame and used his celebrity status to sexually abuse women and children. But he also supposed that anyone else can have such nasty characters, rich or poor, and use their experiences to justify them.
“My other angle of supporting the music is to create a better life for the kids because they might have had nothing to do with this. His baby mamas might have, but the kids probably had no idea about their dad’s actions. They are already suffering the disgrace of carrying the 'Kelly' name after what their dad did” he argued.
Overall he asserted that the family of R. Kelly has been disgraced enough and perhaps, supporting his old music could have the dividends transferred to it.
Hear Me Out is hosted by Daniel Omara every Saturday from 10am to Midday on RX Radio.
Download the RX Radio app:
Comments