Crime

R. Kelly dropped from his record label

ROLLINGOUT.COM — After weeks of public outcry, RCA/Sony executives finally relented and have decided to give up the record label’s prized musical commodity, R. Kelly.

Published

6 years ago

January 20, 2019

Oakland Post

By Terry Shropshire

After weeks of public outcry, RCA/Sony executives finally relented and have decided to give up the record label’s prized musical commodity, R. Kelly.

[/media-credit] Terry Shropshire

In a move that some pop culture prognosticators saw coming, Sony Music has dumped the embattled superstar singer, Variety magazine has reported. RCA/Sony is the only label that Kelly has known during his highly decorated 30-year music career.

RCA Records is said to have removed R. Kelly from its roster of artists on the website on Friday morning, Jan. 18, 2019. Neither RCA Records nor its parent company, Sony Music, have answered repeated calls for comment.

The label’s shocking move comes after decades of calls for R. Kelly’s censorship, investigation, prosecution and conviction for a multiplicity of sexual crimes he is alleged to have committed against numerous women.

But the inflammatory six-part Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” apparently was able to do what rallies, protests and the #MeToo movement were not: get R. Kelly’s label bosses over at RCA/Sony to listen and, more importantly, move to send the singer into musical exile.

Variety reports that RCA/Sony made the move to address its vulnerability “responsibly” and avoid any “legal ramifications.” In other words, when the blizzard of lawsuits is being fired in R. Kelly’s direction, execs at RCA/Sony don’t want to get hit by any shrapnel.

Entertainment attorney Leslie Frank, a partner of King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, told Variety that some major-label contracts have provisions stating that if [an artist is] “convicted of a felony or a crime of moral turpitude, generally speaking, it is the label’s right to terminate the contract.

“Any record company — or, really, any party to any contract — can decide they no longer want to be in the contract,” Frank continued. “The question is what can happen as a result of them asserting their desire to terminate the term of the agreement. R. Kelly could sue for damages. If R. Kelly does not want to terminate the agreement and instigates a dispute saying that it’s a breach of contract by RCA, if RCA is concerned about the cost of litigation and how a court might decide, they could try to come to a settlement with R. Kelly.”

Kelly, of course, has not been convicted for any crime, sexual or otherwise. And he has vehemently maintained his innocence from the many charges of pedophilia, sexual violence and keeping women in a sex cult against their will.

Even though Kelly has been cut from the team, RCA/Sony will still hold onto the backlog of Kelly’s music. They had already announced that they would not be releasing any new music from the “Step in the Name of Love” singer.

And now, after incessant pressure brought about from the multipronged protests and all of the artists who are disassociating themselves from R. Kelly, Sony finally decided to pull the plug on a career that seemed to be on its deathbed and deteriorating rapidly.

In fact, some observers would say Kelly’s career has already begun decomposing.

This article originally appeared in Rolling.com.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

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December 20, 2024

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‘Donald Trump Is Not a God:’ Rep. Bennie Thompson Blasts Trump’s Call to Jail Him

“Donald Trump is not a god,” U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told The Grio during a recent interview, reacting to Trump’s unsupported claims that the congressman, along with other committee members like vice chair and former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, destroyed evidence throughout the investigation.

Published

4 days ago

December 18, 2024

Oakland Post

Congressman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he not intimidated by President-elect Donald Trump, who, during an interview on “Meet the Press,” called for the congressman to be jailed for his role as chairman of the special congressional committee investigating Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, mob attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Donald Trump is not a god,” Thompson told The Grio during a recent interview, reacting to Trump’s unsupported claims that the congressman, along with other committee members like vice chair and former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, destroyed evidence throughout the investigation.

“He can’t prove it, nor has there been any other proof offered, which tells me that he really doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” said the 76-year-old lawmaker, who maintained that he and the bipartisan Jan. 6 Select Committee – which referred Trump for criminal prosecution – were exercising their constitutional and legislative duties.

“When someone disagrees with you, that doesn’t make it illegal; that doesn’t even make it wrong,” Thompson said, “The greatness of this country is that everyone can have their own opinion about any subject, and so for an incoming president who disagrees with the work of Congress to say ‘because I disagree, I want them jailed,’ is absolutely unbelievable.”

When asked by The Grio if he is concerned about his physical safety amid continued public ridicule from Trump, whose supporters have already proven to be violent, Thompson said, “I think every member of Congress here has to have some degree of concern, because you just never know.”

This story is based on a report from The Grio.