Witness Testifies That R. Kelly Groomed Young Man That He Nicknamed 'Nephew'

A witness in the ongoing R. Kelly trial testified that she was ordered by the disgraced singer to have sex with a man who the singer had groomed for years. 

The witness, who has not been named, testified yesterday that, as a punishment, Kelly demanded she have sex with man the singer had nicknamed "Nephew," according to the Associated Press.

She testified that Kelly told her he “had been grooming him since he was young, like me.”

The allegations regarding that young man are not isolated. Prosecutors in the case have accused Kelly of exploiting at least two “John Does.” They are part of the long list of alleged victims and accusers prosecutors say the singer has been abusing for nearly two decades.The state alleges that the “Ignition” singer led an enterprise of managers, bodyguards and other employees who recruited women and girls for his sexual desires. 

The witness who testified about “Nephew” told the court that she spent five years with Kelly and that he promised to promote her music career. When asked what kind of promotion he assisted with, she responded in court, “none,” according to the Associated Press.

During Kelly’s trial so far, two “Jane Does”  have testified about being sexually assaulted while they were teens. Both women said Kelly doled out punishments or put them in isolated hotel rooms if they spoke about him to anyone else.

They said the singer tried to keep them from knowing about accusations put forth about him in the media.

One witness testified that while she was being interviewed by Gayle King for the 2019 Lifetime special “Surviving R. Kelly” , the singer was present in the background and would cough to keep them on script.

In that same explosive interview, Kelly cried, yelled, and claimed he was fighting for his life. He claimed that all the accusations against him were lies. Kelly also referred to himself in the third person, asking, “How stupid would it be for R. Kelly, with all I’ve been through in my way, way past to hold somebody, let alone four, five, six, 50 you said [against their will]?”

Kelly has long denied the allegations and his defense has described his accusers as groupies who only started accusing him of abuse following the #MeToo movement.

However, Kelly has been plagued with accusations for decades about his sexual behavior. He was accused of producing child pornography in Chicago in 2002, but was acquitted of the charge in 2008.

In Brooklyn, he faces more than a dozen criminal counts of sex trafficking, racketeering, coercion, and other charges in connection with the abuse of women and girls. He is also accused of producing child pornography and destroying evidence in a separate case in Illinois. 

Last week, Kelly’s former tour manager Demetrius Smith testified that he paid a $500 bribe to a Chicago public assistance worker to create a fake ID for the now-deceased singer Aaliyah so she could marry Kelly when she was 15 and he was 27.