According to a report, several victims of ex-pop star R. Kelly (56), who was convicted as a sex offender, are to receive compensation in the millions. As the online portal “TMZ” reported with reference to court documents viewed, a court in New York awarded six women amounts totaling 10.5 million US dollars.
Accordingly, the women had sued the singer and his former manager after a canceled screening of the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly”.
The women, who appear in the documentary as the former pop star’s victims of abuse, said they suffered additional traumatic damage when the preview screening in New York in December 2018 had to be stopped after death threats were received against those present. The documentary, which aired in early January 2019, summarizes the allegations against Kelly. The “I Believe I Can Fly” singer is now serving a 30-year sentence after rulings in Chicago and New York courts for sex with a minor and production of child pornography.
First allegations as early as 1994
With more than 50 million albums sold and various important awards, the Chicago-born musician Robert Sylvester Kelly was one of the most successful musicians of the late 20th century. The first allegations were made in 1994, but the pop titan seemed unassailable for a long time. That changed at the latest with the “Surviving” documentary.
According to US media, a court in New York had already decided on Wednesday that Kelly’s music label Universal had to pay royalties of more than half a million US dollars to Kelly’s victims – as a penalty and to cover their costs from one of the court cases settle Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, who has appealed all of the verdicts, told Billboard magazine she is fighting to get the royalties returned to her client.
