After years — decades, really — of reports and suspicions, prosectors are finally closing in on musician R. Kelly. Jim DeRogatis, writing in the New Yorker, reports that the singer will be indicted following the discovery of video evidence. He may soon be indicted in Illinois, according to law enforcement officials who spoke with DeRogatis. The video apparently features graphic and disturbing images of the singer with an underaged woman. Kelly's attorney Steve Greenberg told CNN that Kelly was "unaware" of such a tape.
Said Greenberg, "We have not been contacted by anyone. We have not been informed about any new information by anyone and we have not been contacted by law enforcement." Refinery29 has reached out to Greenberg for additional comment.
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Michael Avenatti, a lawyer working on behalf of several of R. Kelly's accusers, said in a statement that the video is 45 minutes long. Avenatti also stressed that this video is not the same evidence presented in the 2008 case against Kelly.
"Our work has been painstaking, detailed, expensive, and time-consuming," Avenatti concludes. "Mr. Kelly is a predator and a criminal who has prayed on young, vulnerable girls for far too long. The time has come for him to finally be held accountable for his actions."
According to DeRogatis, Kelly's indictment is "pending," although a representative for the State's Attorney's Office told CNN that they could not "confirm or deny an investigation."
There has been a renewed interest in R. Kelly following the release of Lifetime's documentary Surviving R. Kelly, which arrived in early January. Subsequently, RCA records dropped Kelly from the label, Lady Gaga apologized for her 2014 collab with the singer, and Spotify enabled a new feature that allowed users to "mute" artists they did not want to support.