What's done in the dark always comes to light.
Jim derogatis: The story the prosecution told with 45 witnesses
And hundreds of pieces of evidence, it starts in '91.
I was the first girl, and nobody believed me.
You know, this goes back to aaliyah.
Julia reinstein: She was jane doe number one,
And of course, she's not alive to tell her own story.
Jim derogatis: One of the victims claimed
To have been raped by kelly
Just within days of the aaliyah marriage.
Jerhonda pace: I had this blue aéropostale shirt on,
And I wiped his semen and saliva off my face.
Coming home, you gotta understand this,
Because you have your daughter home
Don't mean you have 100% of your daughter home.
The little piece of me that wanted him to get some help, it just went out the window.
Here it is, I'm finna face the man that violated my daughter.
Going over every incident, I couldn't have any pride about that situation.
The intimidation tactics remain real.
His entourage wanted these women's allegations to be snubbed.
- You wanna kill six people? - Kelly rodgers: He didn't do it alone.
I don't think he should be charged alone.
Joy-- as of today, joy's still not home.
We still fighting now to get his daughter.
This has to stop, and it has to stop now.
You know, we've come too far, and I'ma see it through
Until each of y'all get what y'all deserve,
And that's a guilty sentence.
Guilty.
( music playing )
Dominique gardner: At the time,
I felt I gotta be more of a boy for the both of us.
He enjoyed that homey friendship, because that's what it was.
You know, basketball together,
You know, partying together, drinking together.
So I accepted that role.
- I prefer not to talk about that. - Okay.
The final indictment that comes out of brooklyn, it named six women.
And then a month before trial,
Prosecutors also add on this very large 55-page document
That lists 14 additional women and two men.
The feds are laying it all out in these 52 pages.
The new accusations describe young boys as r. Kelly victims, too.
I-- blown away.
To talk about john does, it threw me for a loop.
I mean, this is my brother we talking about.
My mind is-- so to speak, my wig was blew back.
Well, this r. Kelly trial is continuing in brooklyn.
The first man who is actually accusing r. Kelly took the stand.
He's going under the name louis.
He was just 17 and working at a mcdonald's drive-thru
When he met kelly.
He was a senior in high school and was an aspiring musician.
He had sexual contact with r. Kelly multiple times that he didn't want,
And r. Kelly would often record it.
So there were two male accusers who testified in trial.
They were john doe #1 and #2.
They testified under the pseudonyms louis and alex, respectively.
Singer r. Kelly began a sexual relationship with one boy in the chicago area,
Then allegedly abused that teen's friend as well,
Recruiting them into a sex ring.
Louis brought alex to one of r. Kelly's parties,
And r. Kelly later encouraged louis
To keep bringing him around and said, "he's a funny dude."
This was clearly a pattern for r. Kelly.
He would use the teenage victims he was already abusing
And have them introduce him to more potential victims.
After alex had been abused by r. Kelly for a while
After meeting him at 17,
R. Kelly nicknamed him "nephew."
They're not related, not actually his nephew.
Like a lot of the victims that we heard from during the trial,
Alex talked about how he was made to have sexual contact with many of the other victims.
And we heard that from jane,
And she recalled having been told to have sexual contact
With someone she only knew of as nephew.
R. Kelly didn't just have sex with these two men,
But he would force these young men and the women
That he had also lured into his circle to have sex with each other.
They were these little dolls that he was able to put together
If he wanted and take apart if he wanted,
Put one in a room for a couple hours
While he made another one do another thing.
And nobody knew each other. It's very bizarre.
It didn't surprise me
That, you know, he had been with males
Because he liked for himself to be penetrated
In the anus all the time.
And he liked to use dildos and things like that on him.
And a woman, she would have to use a device of some sort.
The assumption that r. Kelly was heterosexual
And bringing in these women
Almost fit a certain script or narrative
Of a powerful man preying upon vulnerable women.
But now you're putting vulnerable men in the mix,
And so this became less a story of sexual assault,
Which was very female-identified in this case,
And it just became a case of perpetration,
That this guy just harms.
Preston mitchum: Hearing and reading john doe's transcript,
He stated that one of the reasons why he did not want to come forward
Was because he didn't want anyone to question his sexuality.
Many straight men who may experience harm,
Sexual assault, rape, may not come forward.
Given the ways we talk about sexual violence,
Given how homophobia functions in our society,
Given how little space we often have for men and boys
To come forward to talk about their experiences with sexual violence,
I also knew that they would be maligned
And derided and made fun of,
That they would be not be seen wholly as victims.
Dr. Joan morgan: So with r. Kelly,
The fact that he knows that this has happened to him,
He is also the victim of sexual abuse
And sexual assault at a young age,
It makes me wonder if he's in any way redeemable
'cause sometimes I really look at him and wonder,
Do you really think that this is normal behavior?
And he completely moves around to me like he thinks it is.
Another testimony that stood out to me
Was when sonja testified.
She was a radio intern
And thought she was gonna come for an interview.
Sonja was the pseudonym for another one of the jane does,
And her testimony was pretty unique.
Jim derogatis: Salt lake city, utah.
Utah is the whitest place in america.
Kelly goes to the one shopping mall
And finds the one aspiring dj who is wowed by him
And wants to do an interview with him.
Talk about the unerring eye and knowledge
Of where to find his victims and who to victimize.
( distorted ) we had heard that r. Kelly was at a local mall,
And I wanted to see if I can get an interview
Or get him to come up to the radio station.
And there was somebody that walked up behind me and gave me his number.
He eventually had her flown to his studio in chicago,
And it was really harrowing what happened to her next.
I was greeted at the taxi.
They took my luggage
And took it into the chocolate factory.
First thing that the guy had asked me
When I first walked in the door was,
"do you need a condom?"
And I said, "oh, no, I'm not here for that."
They had this protocol of either getting
A driver's license that they would scan,
Or they would actually take their own polaroid picture
Of the girls or young women as they came in.
They would also make people who came to the chocolate factory,
They would make them sign confidentiality agreements
Saying that they wouldn't talk about what happened there
And that they wouldn't record anything
Or take any photographs while they were in the studio.
Sonja: They took my id and took my cell phone.
And another guy came in,
And he had a nondisclosure agreement,
And said, "you cannot tell anybody that you were here.
You can't talk to anybody that you see in the halls.
If you use the restroom, you have to be escorted
And you keep your head down.
Don't look at anybody. Don't talk to anybody.
You come straight back to your room until mr. Kelly comes in."
Still, at that point in time I'm thinking to myself,
"okay, this is what everybody does
When they're coming here to interview r. Kelly."
She wasn't given food.
She wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom at will.
She really was kept in there as captive.
( door closes )
They closed the door,
And when they closed it...
- ( locks clicking ) - ...I heard this thud,
Another thud, and another thud.
Those noises that I heard when they walked out
Was them locking the door from the outside.
That part, like, is so emotional.
I just remember thinking to myself,
I'm here by myself, and why did they lock this door?
Who would do that?
I was locked in that room for two to three days.
Maybe even four.
She didn't even have her own cell phone at the time.
She was a single young mother
And she had to borrow her grandfather's cell phone
To fly out to meet up with r. Kelly.
She was really a kidnap victim.
So I went and dialed the front desk,
And finally the guy answered.
And then I said, "hey, this door is locked.
Why aren't you opening the door?"
And he said that it had to be approved by mr. Kelly.
And I tried to call my friends.
I tried to call everybody I knew.
But then I thought, "okay, I just signed this nondisclosure agreement.
What does that mean? Am I not supposed to tell them
What's happening in this room?"
There was a lot of focus on the nda
That was given to her to sign
And the lighting in the room.
Even though she really couldn't see it, it was used against her
As to why she didn't read every line of this nda.
Julia reinstein: The defense kept hammering on,
You know, "why didn't you run? Why didn't you tell anyone?"
And one of the sticking points was actually that
Apparently there was a phone in the room,
And they said, "why didn't you just call the police?"
And she had a pretty clear answer for that.
It sounds like she was afraid for her life and her family's lives.
When she arrived at the studio,
Employees for r. Kelly copied down the names and contact info
For a bunch of people in her phone, for her family members,
And she had a young daughter as well.
These the things he done to these young ladies feeling entitled.
And the crazy part is his approach is the same, male or female.
He's manipulating young boys and young girls.
You run an organization of men
That follow you to a t.
And I thought, "what is going to happen
If I do say something to somebody?"
She testified that she wasn't able to eat or drink
And that she was panicking essentially, and beating on the door.
No one would open the door, or, you know, let her leave.
I had told the receptionist that I wanted to order some food,
And he had to get it approved by mr. Kelly.
It took hours and hours to get this chinese food.
She wasn't given food until quite some time into her time there
And then was given some chinese food and a sprite which served in an open cup.
She had some of it and then just passed out.
Sonja: So I woke up on the couch, and I thought,
"well, that's weird," because I wasn't laying like that before.
The last I knew, I was eating at the table.
I had some wet stuff in between my legs.
I was so confused.
"why am I laying right here?
How did my underwear come off?
What is that noise?"
When I rolled over and I looked to my right,
I saw r. Kelly doing up his pants.
It wasn't until he had left the room
That I realized he just did something to me.
( distorted ) I saw r. Kelly doing up
His pants in the corner.
I had some wet stuff in between my legs.
My underwear was at the edge of the couch.
I mean, everything clicked.
They must've put something in my food.
I believe that I was raped by robert kelly.
After he left the room, somebody came in the room and said, "hey, you can go."
He had another nda and said,
"you don't tell anybody about what happened while you were here.
So, don't ( bleep ) with mr. Kelly."
When I got back from chicago,
I wanted to call the police.
I wanted to scream for years and years
Every time I would hear anything about rob kelly.
I was terrified.
I have been contacted by people from his entourage over the years.
They have shown up, you know, at numerous different places.
"we're still watching you, so, you know,
Don't try to make any moves."
Kind of keeping me in check, I guess you could say.
I've been living in fear from the time that I left chicago,
I mean, in all honesty.
In the case of r. Kelly,
I think there was a legitimate reason
To be concerned about potential retaliation.
It was made pretty clear that if she was to speak up,
She or someone she loved was gonna be hurt.
So she did not speak up.
- So I was, like, kept on standby... - Same here.
...Up until, like, the end.
I kept seeing the jane does,
And I'm like, "I'm gonna go next."
And then it didn't happen.
As the weeks continued to go by in the trial,
When I found out that I wouldn't end up having to face him
Or be in the same room with him, there was a little bit of relief
But also a little bit of disappointment.
I wanted to get that moment to feel like, "I'm not scared.
Your energy doesn't frighten me anymore."
So there was discussion during the trial, you know,
Is that government proving rico
Or are they just proving sexual assault and rape?
And it's not always clear even to the jury
How each witness's testimony fits in together,
But that's what closing argument is.
The government wove it all together at the end
To prove that this was a criminal enterprise.
It really all came together in the closing arguments.
The prosecution really went hard.
Reporter: Prosecutors brought 45 witnesses to prove racketeering charges.
They had a lot of exhibits. They had the videos, plane tickets.
They had a lot of evidence.
They had text messages,
Witnesses that corroborated the text messages.
It was just a lot.
Reporter: The prosecution argues kelly ran an enterprise
For sexual gratification.
Reporter: Closing arguments wrapped up today
Describing how r. Kelly operated from a "predator's handbook
Of isolation and manipulation of underage victims."
Noah goldberg: The r. Kelly trial continued toward its end
As prosecutors finished up their closing statements.
And then defense attorney deveraux cannick
Got up and delivered a fiery closing statement.
Reporter: Kelly's defense began its closing argument
By comparing the r&b singer's trial
To dr. Martin luther king jr.'s
Fight for constitutional rights.
Let's start right away with the defense's comparison
Of r. Kelly to martin luther king jr.
Reporters, as it became clear he was talking about king,
They started looking around at each other,
Kind of being like, "is this really happening?
Is he really comparing r. Kelly,
Who's accused of running a sex trafficking ring,
To martin luther king?
The idea that r. Kelly's defense team
Would think that audiences were so unsophisticated and really stupid
And insultingly suggest that defending r. Kelly
Was on par with defending other folks
Who have been criminalized for challenging unjust laws
For me was absolutely insidious, right?
It's like, "how dare you?"
Jacob shamsian: One of the things that the defense said a lot
Was the trial was something like an extension of "surviving r. Kelly."
They kept saying, "surviving off r. Kelly."
Right? That was, like, this joke they made
Across some closing statements.
In the defense's opening statement,
One of the things and strategies they had indicated
Is they planned to attack the credibility
Of every witness that would take the stand.
All of which is his right to do,
But doesn't indicate an actual defense to the behavior itself.
So if I were jury member, I'm sitting there going,
"that's great, but did you or did you not do this?"
When it went to the jury, I bit off all my nails.
A jury began deliberations today
In the federal trial of singer r. Kelly.
At 1:40 this afternoon, the jury of seven men
And five women began deliberating.
Lanita carter: To the jurors, I want them to realize
How important their job is right now.
I want them to be as fair as they possibly can
And to know that if they stop this,
They'll be stopping a vicious cycle.
I was nervous, restless.
That whole weekend I was a basketcase.
I really just froze.
Jury, please listen to this announcement!
R. Kelly is an innocent man!
How's your client feeling?
Stressed.
Charles rodgers: In the world that we live in,
People that are famous that are guilty,
And people that have money that are guilty, they walk.
I started, you know, playing all these scenarios in my mind,
And, you know, "what if it comes back not guilty?"
People are gonna really give it to us then, you know?
Make us out to be liars.
There is protocol when there is a high profile trial such as this one.
The jury has a u.S. Marshal
When they deliberate outside their door.
It's really a very tightly controlled situation.
Singer r. Kelly's fate is now in the hands of a jury.
...In the hands of a jury, who will determine his guilt or his innocence.
Reporter: The 54-year-old is on trial for racketeering
And sex trafficking charges.
When they went into deliberation and the first day passed,
I was like, ( bleep ).
"we gotta go through the weekend."
The weekend can bring about anything,
Because the jury wasn't sequestered.
They get to go home.
And so now you have
The influences of friends.
You have the influences of family.
Though the law says
You're not supposed to discuss,
Let's just be real.
You can watch television.
You can be influenced by all types of things.
I was so un-seamed.
I'm like, "he's gonna walk.
They gonna let him walk all over again."
I understood as a very young man, as a teenager,
That society didn't believe women
When they said that they were victims of rape and sexual violence.
Because of #metoo, because of a public reckoning
Of very public men, black and white,
For me it seemed that this would be the moment
Where we would have some real accountability.
You know, during non-covid times,
We would be able to look at the jurors.
During this case, we couldn't.
At several points during the trial,
The jurors plugged in their headphones.
I just remember it being very long periods of time
Where we had no access to the evidence,
So we were just sort of sitting in the courtroom twiddling our thumbs.
Alanna vagianos: A big theme of this trial
Was r. Kelly filming his sexual exploits,
Which was very often sexual abuse.
So we knew that these videos were going to be likely
Him having sex or sexually assaulting many of the women
Who had taken the stand.
The very end of the trial when we're all waiting for a verdict,
We finally got access to the videos.
But not the videos themselves. Only the audio from the videos.
We were allowed to sit in one room, have it played for us, not be able to record it.
Just be able to listen to it in that room.
Alanna vagianos: There was maybe 30 journalists sitting in the media room,
And we took out our laptops and started listening.
( no audio )
It is probably the most horrific video--
Audio of video that I've ever heard in my life.
The redacted audio that they played for us,
It was one of the parts that really sticks out from the trial.
This one recording of a woman--
We didn't see, but it seemed like she and r. Kelly were having sex,
And she was just repeating over and over and over
For 20 minutes or so,
"I'm a dumb ( bleep ) bitch, daddy,
And I want you to fix me."
It was forcing of sexual acts.
It was him orchestrating literally everything
Including their humiliation.
They sound so demoralized. They sound so broken.
And I can't even imagine watching it.
You hear peeing sounds while frank sinatra's playing in the background--
"come fly with me."
The woman says at one point, "piss everywhere.
Get all this piss, daddy."
And you can hear slapping sounds which is-- ( gags )
Physically makes me cringe.
And then the more graphic ones
Included one of the jane does spreading feces on herself
As he in the background
Directed her as a form of punishment.
And throughout the video you can hear the woman saying,
"I'm sorry, daddy."
A lot of other very, very graphic things.
The audio was so horrifying
That I remember a few reporters had to walk out of the room.
The feces clip is when I walked out.
I don't know what kind of person
Can subject other humans to that
Time and time again and not feel the sickness,
The vileness that I felt in my stomach in a courtroom.
Safe around my colleagues listening to it,
I felt shame, I felt disgusted.
I knew that I couldn't take any more.
It was while hearing one of these audio clips
That was really, really disturbing
That we got word that a verdict had been reached.
So we just had to stop the audio and all run upstairs.
It was like a stampede of reporters.
I heard a shriek and a loud sound.
"verdict, verdict!"
Breaking news, it's the verdict in the r. Kelly case.
On a Monday, which was, I believe, the 27th of September...
I was at work,
And I was paying attention to the news.
The jurors have just reached a verdict in the federal trial of r&b singer r. Kelly.
Breaking news.
A jury in the federal trial of r. Kelly
Has found the singer...
Lisa van allen: I think about the 2008 trial.
So it's still like, "it could go left.
I hope they stop him."
If there is a guilty verdict
For r. Kelly, if there is non-guilty verdict,
I'm not gonna lie, like, I'm going to cry either way.
We're coming on the air with breaking news.
A jury in the federal trial of r. Kelly
Has found the singer guilty of racketeering
Based on sexual exploitation of children,
Kidnapping, and forced labor.
- Guilty of racketeering. - Criminal enterprise.
- Charged with the mann act. - Bribery.
- Kidnapping. - Sexual abuse.
Sexual exploitation of a minor.
It was tearful testimony, emotional testimony.
( echoing ) he is facing anywhere from ten years to life.
I called tiffany and I couldn't stop the tears.
I said, "they got him."
And it was such a surreal moment.
We were screaming through the phone.
I was crying. I was so happy.
A little bit in shock, and then relief that he didn't get off.
( distorted ) you know, I was happy. I felt freedom.
There were so many thoughts going through my mind.
I just feel relieved. I feel like a huge weight
Has been lifted off my shoulders,
And it feels really good to know that my voice was heard
And that I matter.
I knew it was something to celebrate
But it didn't feel like, you know,
Your average celebration.
This is somebody whose life is officially taken from him.
Like, now it's stamped. He's done.
This was what the women needed. It validated their stories.
- It validated their truth. - Guilty on all nine counts.
For my daughter, for all those women,
Justice, justice, justice.
I bawled. I just-- I was proud of myself.
I was proud of the women.
I was proud of the people that supported us,
That gave us our voices and platforms.
I felt relief.
I've engaged with some of his survivors.
This is why we have to raise our voices.
This is why we have a #metoo movement.
We can count on each other. That's what this says to me.
My daughter just hugged me and said, "mommy, you did it."
And I just broke down in tears.
He's been convicted. He's been convicted, all nine counts.
It was, like, wow.
- Justice had been served. - I couldn't think properly.
I couldn't concentrate because it was very emotional for me.
As far as the verdict, I really could never...
- You can't. - ...Rejoice in seeing, um,
A life go down like that.
Reporter: It took the jury of seven men and five women
Around nine hours to reach a verdict.
To the victims in this case,
Your voices were heard and justice was finally served.
He was not anticipating this verdict
Because based on the evidence,
Why should he anticipate this verdict?
I talked with my cousin.
I said, "what's going on with my brother?"
And he said, "he was found guilty."
I almost passed out. I almost fainted.
R. Kelly expressed absolutely no emotion
As the verdict was being read.
Kelly didn't have a noticeable facial reaction.
He didn't even seem upset as far as you could tell.
- He was totally stone faced. - There was no hand motion.
There was no putting his head down. There was nothing.
He kind of just stared right ahead,
And once it was over he walked right back to jail.
A lot of people had doubts. I didn't.
It wasn't like compared to the o.J. Trial.
You know, the world was quiet.
The people was holding their breath
Was more of his fanbase.
We not giving up. We not.
I will never give up robert sylvester kelly.
You know, when the verdict came down...
...I was holding it together
Until my attorney sent me a message
From the editor of "rolling stone,"
Jason newman, who interviewed me first.
And so he had texted her
And he was very emotional as well.
And I just didn't realize how impactful my story was
From the beginning, and how people like him
Were still emotionally attached to everything.
Everything was going so fast, I just started thinking,
"oh, this is just another interview.
This person doesn't care.
This is just exploiting our stories."
But it became really real to me
How many people our stories impacted.
I remember when I first heard
That "surviving r. Kelly" was being made,
And my reaction was like, "whoa!"
And then I saw that dream hampton was making it,
And I was like, "oh, okay. I have to see this.
This is gonna be something. This is gonna be real."
Even though it was talking about such horrible things,
This is actually going to move culture
In a way that many of us hope to move culture, but we don't.
You know, all of us followed this trial really closely,
But, dream, I don't think we'd be where are today
Without what you did on "surviving r. Kelly."
I know that.
Well, I mean, I just wanna acknowledge
How much culture has shifted,
How much social media, for all its sins
And all of things that are awful about social media,
It is incredibly democratic in that folks can self-organize, they can speak up,
And speak back to people like r. Kelly
And the people who enabled him.
- Jocelyn! - All: We love you.
- ( shouting ) - all: We love you.
Mute r. Kelly!
The other thing is, we were able to offer a counter-narrative
Just by centering these women.
You know, women who weren't famous, women who weren't rich,
They weren't powerful.
And we thought it was important
To let them tell it themselves.
Seeing them on camera,
Seeing them have to wrestle with this pain in 3-d
Was an effective strategy.
Does that mean that in order to get justice in the future
We have to produce a documentary
And there has to be some piece of media that goes viral?
You know, I hope not.
When I see, you know, folks in my own community say,
"y'all got cosby and r. Kelly, and isn't that enough?"
That doesn't even begin to deal with the topic
Which is, you know, black women and abuse.
You know what I remember thinking when I heard the verdict?
"so that means he's not getting out of jail, right?"
Because everything is so trippy, you know?
Like, they tried to impeach the same person twice and nothing happened,
So, like, you don't know what things really mean anymore.
He's facing charges in other states. He's 54 years old.
Do you think he spends the rest of his life in prison?
I do. I don't think that r. Kelly will ever be a free man.
Well, in new york alone, r. Kelly is facing is up to 100 years in prison,
And his sentencing will take place in may.
They're gonna take about ten years to appeal right?
- It could, yeah. - You don't think he'll ever get out?
No, sir. You're not gonna beat no rico charge.
No, that number gonna look like a bowling score.
( laughter )
W. Kamau bell: Comedy dies on the vine.
All comedy eventually turns, you know?
It's just the way that comedy works,
And the best comedy is specific to its time
That it turns very quickly.
I can remember laughing very hard at "piss on you"
And all the r. Kelly stuff, and also having a thought like,
"oh, I didn't realize it was that serious."
Understanding that comedy can die on the vine,
I feel like that chappelle could be like,
"yeah, that's what we thought back then,
And now things are different."
Man, this is the worst time ever to be a celebrity.
You're gonna be finished. Everyone's doomed.
R. Kelly is different.
I mean, you know, if I'm a betting man,
I'm gonna put my money on he probably did that ( bleep ).
Let me tell you, like, I had so many different emotions.
When they said guilty, while it meant a lot,
There was no finality to it.
What happened with bill cosby's case
Where everything was overturned,
It ultimately isn't the end.
Cosby's spokesman told the "new york post"
That bill cosby thinks r. Kelly got a raw deal
And his constitutional rights were grossly abused.
Woman: We love you, mr. Cosby!
We are thrilled to have mr. Cosby home.
And if there had been a just verdict and a just sentence,
We wouldn't be here fighting.
A former cosby attorney who claims she's concerned
About the damaging precedent being set
By the federal government in charging kelly under rico
Is gonna handle his appeals.
I had the calls with the women
Who were really upset about bill cosby being released
And the charges dropped against him.
They feel so defeated.
And they're really worried and I'm really worried
That the same thing could happen, you know?
Like, "oh, okay, you didn't do that,
So we're just gonna let you out."
Appeals, a second federal trial,
This is gonna go on for years.
What he has to not just women,
Not just kids, not just boys and girls,
He has to destroyed them.
And for someone to destroy someone,
I would to be there when they read,
"life. Life.
Life in jail.
Until he leaves this earth.
Period."
Bruce kelly: I'm yet to talk to robert.
I've been communicating through his attorneys.
This is what I wrote to him.
"hello, robert. It's your brother bruce.
I'm so sorry I wasn't at your trial to support you.
There is so much I wish I could talk to you about.
I pray that god puts it in your heart
To connect us as brothers again.
I will forever have your back.
Please call me when you get a chance."
And I left my number and stuff. Yeah.
I guess what we're witnessing what the beginning of justice looks like.
It's been a long time coming.
Can we focus on the fact that this happened here,
And these black women were heard and they made history,
And they fought no matter what they were up against?
I wasn't prepared for the online support we got.
At the end of the day, everybody knows someone
That was sexually assaulted, raped, or harmed by someone.
I don't know that I always believed
That we would get to this moment,
But to watch this kind of synthesis
Of excellent documentary work, on the ground activism,
Black women who were really vigilant
About reporting everything single thing,
Like, it's incredible.
They deserve this moment.
It took several exposés by seasoned journalists
Who tied it all together, super thorough,
So many articles over the years.
I think the one that stands out to me the most,
It had this amazing quote from jim derogatis
That I will never forget.
He says, "the thing that I learned the most
From doing this investigation is that nobody matters less
Than black girls. Nobody."
Jim derogatis is a man who has reported on a story
When no one gave a ( bleep ).
So jim derogatis, to me, is the primary example
Of a reporter that sticks with the story,
Screams at it through the rooftops
Until people finally listen,
And his willingness to help other journalists
Is something that is rare, and it's super admirable.
I think this trial would never have happened without jim derogatis' work.
It was jim derogatis' reporting that brought these crimes to the public attention.
I knew it was always going to be a challenge for jim
As the storyteller because he was the white guy writing about the black guy,
And there were people who were not going to take that reporting seriously.
I actually broke the nda when I decided to speak
With jim derogatis and do the buzzfeed article.
I think the world of him.
He shed light on something so dark,
And he never gave up.
This trial can speak to
The next generation of women in saying
There is a justice system that will believe you
And that will hear you.
That's like striking the lottery.
Up until this point, I think for most people,
R. Kelly's victim is like a silhouette of a young girl
On a video tape, and aaliyah,
Who's not here to speak for herself.
So to have such intense and insistent gaze
On these women to hear their voices, to hear their truths,
Really, really, I think changed everything.
For survivors to feel heard
Speaks to how long they had felt silenced.
I think young black women,
So often we are overly sexualized.
People believe that you have some super strength.
I know we have all these songs, "we're a survivor,"
But at the same time, we're human beings.
I think what you've seen in the course of the last several years,
In particularly survivors of color,
Is an accountability not just for one person
But for a criminal justice system that has left many behind.
And I think part of why it's making a difference,
We see women that are moving up in offices
And taking positions of power. And guess what.
Before they got there, things like this happened to them.
While I am deeply thankful that we live
Or are beginning to live in a culture
Where survivors are believed, and especially in cases
Where there is a clear pattern of abuse,
We expect our institutions
To step in and to stop the harm.
Tarana purke: This has been a very long time coming.
This is not always the way justice will be served,
If we can call it justice, but at least it feels like something.
The real challenge is to make sure that everything
That got brought into the open about r. Kelly,
We use and continue to use that knowledge in black communities.
If we can say 30 years from now,
R. Kelly's going to jail opened up a wider conversation
For us to hold more people accountable for their behavior,
That would be a wonderful legacy to this moment.
I feel like the system has shown us
A pat on the back, yes, but it took hell to get there.
Let's not act like, you know,
I didn't go to the police before trial,
You didn't go to the police before trial.
- Yeah. - I'm not gonna say I feel like 100%--
Like, have we made history?
Yes, but we still gotta, like...
For me, I feel like it's a step in the right direction.
- Mm-hmm. - There's still a lot of work to be done.
Faith rodgers: But also at the end of all this,
Your healing should be moving on,
And everybody's healing looks different.
I can't go to somebody and be like, "help me heal."
- Right. - You gotta go on that journey by yourself.
This is a process,
And I think for a number of survivors,
It may be a lifelong journey.
Michelle kramer: The first few months, it was very difficult.
My daughter wasn't sleeping. I wasn't sleeping.
I was watching her all over again like a newborn baby.
She get up in the middle of the night, I'm getting up in the middle of the night.
So it was very difficult until we both agreed
That counseling is the answer.
And she's still healing, and I'm still healing too.
Dominique gardner: This is what living is supposed to be like.
I'm five months pregnant, and it's a girl.
I was praying for boy, but I was blessed with a girl.
Michelle kramer: Now dominique has a daughter,
Which, I'm so sorry, we've been saying dominique this whole time,
And it's not dominique anymore. She goes by sharday.
She is happily married now.
I knew that she was gonna get happiness.
Everything is worth a heartache
Because it's always going to be--
As I always say, "you're gonna smile at the end."
Mark it.
Producer: Tell me your name.
My name is jovante cunningham.
Healing for me? The first step was admitting what happened.
The second step was getting in a headspace that was healthy for me,
Getting the ideology of shame off of my back.
And now I'm in therapy.
Producer: Ready?
♪ sometimes your life feels like ♪
♪ a broken rollercoaster ♪
♪ a thousand useless moving parts ♪
I just want to throw myself into helping others.
That's what I see healing for me as.
Ebonié doyle: It's all about loving yourself.
This is my way of freeing myself from this situation
That I have suppressed for so many years.
Kitti jones: The therapy that I went through journaling everything,
Just caring about myself more, surrounding myself with love.
You know, I deserve to feel good.
Lisa van allen: I've been writing a couple of children's books
About the proper way to say no
If you don't agree with the way someone touches you.
My dad used to associate
Mental health with, "ahh, that's the demon."
Now he understands
Why I have anxiety, so for that I'm thankful.
I can finally exhale,
And I am extremely happy
That I can finally close this chapter.
I found me a therapist. I met with her
Three times a week.
So I'm taking the steps to do what I need
To support my mental health.
And now I'm a nurse and I'm a nurse educator.
♪ look up ♪
♪ do you see the sunlight? ♪
♪ look up ♪
♪ there's flowers in your hair ♪
♪ hold on ♪
♪ 'cause somebody loves you ♪
♪ you know trouble's always gonna be there ♪
♪ look up ♪
♪ don't let it bring you to your knees ♪
♪ look up ♪
When they found him guilty, I was like, "is this real?"
He's gotta know that he's wrong,
And I don't think that that's set in yet,
That he's actually getting ready to pay the price
For doing all of these things that he's done
Because it's not his reality yet.
Julia reinstein: It's June 29th,
And r. Kelly is getting sentenced.
Free r. Kelly! Free r.Kelly!
What we want? Justice!
Federal prosecutors, they've asked for over 25 years in prison for r. Kelly.
This is a really big day for all the many, many people
That r. Kelly has hurt for so many years.
It's a really pivotal moment in this case,
A case that's stretched for decades at this point.
Kelly faces a second federal trial
By the northern district of illinois.
Then there would be the cook county state's attorney trial,
The state of illinois.
After that, there is still a criminal case pending,
Minnesota state charges.
Oronike odeleye: The future of #muterkelly
Is gonna be keeping an eye on these trials
And keeping that conversation going.
We want people paying attention.
We want them dialed in so that they can really see
What a blueprint for justice looks like.
Jovante cunningham: There's certain individuals
That definitely knew what was going on.
Some people knew he had an insatiable taste for young girls.
It's layers. It's a building.
It's the accountants, it's the lawyers, it's the managers.
It's these people that knew,
And because they wanted to continue to profit,
Literally fed his addiction,
Didn't get him the proper counseling, told him it was okay.
Sometimes it was bringing the girls down there themselves.
So is there an enterprise? Absolutely.
What you see now is the evidence of that.
Justice for me would be getting all that ass.
All that ass. Yeah, I said it.
All that ass.
Every last one of them,
And it goes back 30 freaking years.
Jim derogatis: The young girl on the tape,
She testified that he sexually abused her
Hundreds of times,
Starting at age 14.
In testimony yesterday, jane publically admitting
That she was the girl in the video,
In that r. Kelly video you may remember
From the 2008 trial at cook county.
The woman at the center of that footage testified,
"I became exhausted with living with these lies."
I found the girl from the tapes' ig page.
I reached out to her.
I wanted to let her know
That it was not our fault, we were young,
And to let her know that if she needed someone to talk to,
I was there.
I hope that the victims, those involved in the trial,
And the many who never have come public,
I hope they realize speaking out
And telling the truth was not in vain.
How many of these stories are not being told?
You know, how many other r. Kelly-type sagas
Have been out there for decades?
I do think kelly will singularly go down
In the history of popular music
As the worst criminal predator ever.