Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for Dec. 18
Fox News Flash top entertainment and celebrity headlines for Dec. 18 are here. Check out what's clicking today in entertainment.
Singer R. Kelly pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he schemed with others to pay for a fake ID for an unnamed female a day before he married R&B singer Aaliyah, then 15 years old, in a secret ceremony in 1994.
Fox News confirmed that Kelly entered his plea via video streaming from Chicago, where the singer is currently imprisoned while facing charges of sex crimes.
The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment about who the fake ID was meant for, and the indictment didn't mention the wedding, but a person familiar with the investigation has confirmed the “Jane Doe" was Aaliyah. The person wasn't authorized to discuss details of the new charge and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
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The new charges marked the first time that Kelly's brief marriage to Aaliyah has been connected to any of the criminal cases against him. His attorneys have called the charges baseless.
Kelly and his team have maintained that he did not know Aaliyah's age when they married. The Illinois marriage license used for the wedding said she was 18.
Aaliyah in 2000. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
Fox News also confirmed that outside of the courtroom, defense attorney Douglas Anton called Kelly a “musical genius," that he looked good and was keeping healthy.
Anton also said that Kelly is planning on continuing his music career, and while his lyric writing has been affected by the scandal, Kelly is still coming up with ideas for music and jots down notes.
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But as for getting a fake ID, “He would have no idea how to do that,” Anton added.
The Brooklyn prosecutors had already charged R. Kelly with racketeering, kidnapping, forced labor and sexual exploitation. They alleged that he and his employees and assistants picked out women and girls at concerts and groomed them for sexual abuse.
R. Kelly also pleaded not guilty to 11 additional sex-related felonies during a court hearing in Chicago. R. Kelly, already facing sexual abuse charges brought by Illinois prosecutors, was arrested in July 11. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool)
The 52-year-old singer, who is being held without bail, is scheduled to stand trial in federal court in Chicago in April on child pornography and obstruction of justice charges before facing trial in Brooklyn. Kelly, whose given name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was acquitted in 2008 on charges of videotaping himself having sex with a girl whom prosecutors alleged was as young as 13.
New allegations against Kelly recently surfaced in the trailer for "Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning," a followup to the popular "Surviving R. Kelly."
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The series showcases several women accusing Kelly of sex crimes including rape, abuse and more.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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