R. Kelly Fighting $10.5 Million Lawsuit Against Him and Ex-'Manager' Over Shut Down NYC Screening
Jan. 15 2024, Published 4:15 p.m. ET
Jailed singer R. Kelly is fighting an eight-figure lawsuit after six of his former victims featured in the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries were awarded $10.5 million for alleged threats leveled against them over a 2018 screening.
In the newly filed documents, the I Believe I Can Fly hitmaker insisted that he was unaware of the suit and not responsible for any wrongdoing. Kelly explained he has changed legal representation a few times and faced multiple criminal cases.
Furthermore, Kelly pointed out that even if he received a copy of the lawsuit, the legal jargon would go over his head and need to be broken down to him by one of his lawyers, according to TMZ which was the first to report the news of his dispute over the judgment.
The women previously took legal action against Kelly and a man claimed to be his ex-manager, Donnell Russell, suing the duo for their alleged efforts to shut down a New York City screening of the docuseries in December 2018, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The plaintiffs claimed the defendants launched a campaign to intimidate the women, A&E/Lifetime, and the producers to stop screening the docuseries in May 2018.
When they discovered the show was still going on, they alleged that Kelly's camp called producers on the night of the NYC event and said someone was "going to shoot up the place," which resulted in the screening being canceled.
According to Kelly, Russell was never his manager. The scandal-plagued performer stated that if Russell did make that threat, "he did that for his own reasons" and not by any direction of his own.
Kelly, who is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking, is holed up at FCI Butner Medium I in North Carolina after being transferred to the medium-security facility last April. Kelly recently turned 57 behind bars and will be nearly 80 years old when he's released from prison in December 2045.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Kelly filed a lawsuit last November after his private information was allegedly leaked to an online blogger while incarcerated.
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Kelly stated the leaked info included his personal discussions about family issues, health problems, and defense strategy for various pending criminal cases at the time.
The blogger, however, denied any wrongdoing and claimed she received the email tip from an anonymous source.