1 00:00:14,710 --> 00:00:18,018 I was sickened by what I saw. 2 00:00:18,061 --> 00:00:19,628 A lot of people saw that pee tape. 3 00:00:19,671 --> 00:00:21,021 It was circulating in the streets. 4 00:00:21,064 --> 00:00:23,762 I came across the one with me, him, 5 00:00:23,806 --> 00:00:25,373 and the 14-year-old. 6 00:00:25,416 --> 00:00:28,767 My niece has the same hairstyle she had 7 00:00:28,811 --> 00:00:31,466 when she turned 14. 8 00:00:31,509 --> 00:00:34,295 That was her, for sure. 9 00:00:34,338 --> 00:00:38,081 And that was him, definitely. 10 00:00:38,125 --> 00:00:41,302 Various sexual acts, including urination, oral sex. 11 00:00:41,345 --> 00:00:43,826 For him to do that to her... 12 00:00:49,571 --> 00:00:51,877 Oh, man. 13 00:00:51,921 --> 00:00:53,618 I took it and he never noticed it was gone. 14 00:00:53,662 --> 00:00:57,100 I just didn't know that there was a point in time... 15 00:00:57,144 --> 00:01:00,103 [crying]: where they were talk... 16 00:01:02,714 --> 00:01:07,371 where they were talking... about killing me. 17 00:01:07,415 --> 00:01:10,331 I should have never introduced her to him. 18 00:01:10,374 --> 00:01:14,683 [crying]: I should have never introduced my family to him. 19 00:01:14,726 --> 00:01:16,685 How dare you. 20 00:01:18,730 --> 00:01:21,516 How dare you. [sniffles] 21 00:01:28,566 --> 00:01:30,481 ♪ 22 00:01:52,808 --> 00:01:55,724 CRAIG WILLIAMS: There was a bedroom in the studio. 23 00:01:55,767 --> 00:01:56,986 Girls everywhere. 24 00:01:57,029 --> 00:01:58,640 15 to 17 to 18. 25 00:01:58,683 --> 00:01:59,945 JOVANTE CUNNINGHAM: We were young. 26 00:01:59,989 --> 00:02:01,164 We were naive. 27 00:02:01,208 --> 00:02:03,819 We were easily influenced. 28 00:02:03,862 --> 00:02:06,909 It wasn't just me that was young that he liked. 29 00:02:06,952 --> 00:02:08,954 It wasn't a mistake with Aaliyah. 30 00:02:08,998 --> 00:02:12,436 He's sleeping with this young girl. 31 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:15,439 GEM PRATTS: It's like, uh, cattle that has four acres 32 00:02:15,483 --> 00:02:18,399 and he's the only cattle to graze; it's easy pickins'. 33 00:02:18,442 --> 00:02:20,966 This is somebody who's written this inspirational, 34 00:02:21,010 --> 00:02:23,186 motivational song. 35 00:02:23,230 --> 00:02:24,666 It was just massive. 36 00:02:24,709 --> 00:02:26,581 JAMILAH LEMIEUX: Can he really be the monster? 37 00:02:26,624 --> 00:02:28,931 There's no moral clock there, there's no gage. 38 00:02:28,974 --> 00:02:31,281 I introduced my niece to Robert 39 00:02:31,325 --> 00:02:34,197 and I saw her in the studio by herself. 40 00:02:34,241 --> 00:02:37,461 I would walk in like, "What you doing here?" 41 00:02:37,505 --> 00:02:38,897 LISA VAN ALLEN: Him and I both were actually 42 00:02:38,941 --> 00:02:40,247 having sex with her. 43 00:02:40,290 --> 00:02:42,336 I was unaware, at that time, 44 00:02:42,379 --> 00:02:44,773 of how young she was. 45 00:02:44,816 --> 00:02:46,601 She was actually 14. 46 00:03:05,576 --> 00:03:07,839 When I figured out that 47 00:03:07,883 --> 00:03:10,799 I had had sex with a 14-year-old, 48 00:03:10,842 --> 00:03:13,845 um, it made me feel betrayed, 49 00:03:13,889 --> 00:03:16,065 because he lied to me and told me she was 16, 50 00:03:16,108 --> 00:03:19,503 which would have been close to my age. 51 00:03:19,547 --> 00:03:24,160 And it also made me question his motives. 52 00:03:24,204 --> 00:03:27,859 I mean, the fact that he lied about her age to me, told me 53 00:03:27,903 --> 00:03:29,861 that he obviously knew that wasn't okay 54 00:03:29,905 --> 00:03:32,081 for her to be younger. 55 00:03:32,124 --> 00:03:35,606 It-it made me feel, like, sick to my stomach. 56 00:03:35,650 --> 00:03:39,393 It made me feel disgusted. 57 00:03:39,436 --> 00:03:44,659 I mean, my daughter is older than she is now. 58 00:03:47,270 --> 00:03:49,620 We didn't have sex with her anymore 59 00:03:49,664 --> 00:03:53,015 after I found out that she was that much younger. 60 00:03:53,058 --> 00:03:56,888 We had sex in his home twice. 61 00:03:56,932 --> 00:03:58,194 I didn't see his wife at the house, 62 00:03:58,238 --> 00:04:01,719 but there was a-a situation, um, 63 00:04:01,763 --> 00:04:05,070 between me, him and the younger woman 64 00:04:05,114 --> 00:04:07,725 where he did tell me that his wife was upstairs 65 00:04:07,769 --> 00:04:09,901 when we were in the-- 66 00:04:09,945 --> 00:04:12,121 I call it the Colorado Room, the one with all the wood, 67 00:04:12,164 --> 00:04:14,428 where the infamous sex tape was filmed-- 68 00:04:14,471 --> 00:04:16,299 that room, when we were down there, 69 00:04:16,343 --> 00:04:19,215 one time, he did tell me that she was upstairs. 70 00:04:25,308 --> 00:04:26,962 PRODUCER: The girls that were seeing the other side of him, 71 00:04:27,005 --> 00:04:28,746 did you notice them? 72 00:04:28,790 --> 00:04:32,097 Do you know how-- Were they young at that time? 73 00:04:32,141 --> 00:04:35,536 No. He never brought any of them around me. 74 00:04:35,579 --> 00:04:38,756 He was never abusive to anybody in front of me. 75 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,107 He was never a person that, you know, like, 76 00:04:42,151 --> 00:04:43,979 "Hey, do y'all hear that in the room next door? 77 00:04:44,022 --> 00:04:45,894 Is that fighting or something?" 78 00:04:45,937 --> 00:04:48,810 I mean, we have to be realistic about the story line, too. 79 00:04:48,853 --> 00:04:50,942 Seeing some [bleep] like that, 80 00:04:50,986 --> 00:04:53,336 you-- we really are not gonna be together, 81 00:04:53,380 --> 00:04:56,644 because you're showing me up front who your monster is, 82 00:04:56,687 --> 00:05:00,430 so I think that he strategically did what he did with me. 83 00:05:00,474 --> 00:05:03,564 He kept it away from me for a reason. 84 00:05:03,607 --> 00:05:05,392 It's like sometimes I often wish 85 00:05:05,435 --> 00:05:08,003 I would have just known up front; I really do. 86 00:05:08,046 --> 00:05:10,832 I wish that I would have been able to see the fullness 87 00:05:10,875 --> 00:05:12,921 of the monster I was dealing with 88 00:05:12,964 --> 00:05:14,662 because it probably would have saved me 89 00:05:14,705 --> 00:05:17,578 years and years of pain. 90 00:05:17,621 --> 00:05:20,015 It would have saved me years of abuse. 91 00:05:20,058 --> 00:05:23,018 It would have saved me years of being alienated from my family 92 00:05:23,061 --> 00:05:25,673 if I just would have known up front 93 00:05:25,716 --> 00:05:29,024 what the hell I'm dealing with. 94 00:05:29,067 --> 00:05:32,070 LISA: When we first started having sex, 95 00:05:32,114 --> 00:05:35,204 Rob was behind the camera, and he pretty much 96 00:05:35,247 --> 00:05:37,380 would talk us through the motions. 97 00:05:37,424 --> 00:05:41,558 He would never ask me if, um, it was okay to be filmed, 98 00:05:41,602 --> 00:05:44,431 but he never hid the camera or anything like that. 99 00:05:44,474 --> 00:05:50,001 He would just pull-pull out his tripod and his camera. 100 00:05:50,045 --> 00:05:52,221 And he had the whole thing, the lighting. 101 00:05:52,264 --> 00:05:55,616 He'd set it up and he-he liked to-to have control 102 00:05:55,659 --> 00:05:58,227 of the situation because he would tell you 103 00:05:58,270 --> 00:06:02,797 what to do anyways when you were having sex. 104 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:05,103 When he would put the camera up, he'd just say, 105 00:06:05,147 --> 00:06:07,454 "Make sure you're sitting properly for the camera, 106 00:06:07,497 --> 00:06:09,586 you know, for whatever angle." 107 00:06:09,630 --> 00:06:13,329 And when he'd be done filming, he'd just put it in his bag. 108 00:06:17,594 --> 00:06:20,728 It was 2000, around the same time 109 00:06:20,771 --> 00:06:23,426 when I did the "I Wish" video with him. 110 00:06:23,470 --> 00:06:27,082 I was in the studio, I was in the room, 111 00:06:27,125 --> 00:06:29,780 and he left the bag in the room with me. 112 00:06:29,824 --> 00:06:32,696 And I just happened to open the bag up, 113 00:06:32,740 --> 00:06:37,440 and I started popping the tapes in to see what was on them. 114 00:06:37,484 --> 00:06:40,661 It was just a whole bunch of different tapes with him 115 00:06:40,704 --> 00:06:44,969 having sex with different young girls, I guess, and women. 116 00:06:45,013 --> 00:06:47,624 But I came across the one 117 00:06:47,668 --> 00:06:50,322 with me, him and the 14-year-old. 118 00:06:54,892 --> 00:06:56,938 I watched it and, 119 00:06:56,981 --> 00:07:00,071 as I fast-forwarded some, I'd see other scenes 120 00:07:00,115 --> 00:07:02,465 with just him and her, without me. 121 00:07:05,207 --> 00:07:06,774 Her face, 122 00:07:06,817 --> 00:07:09,254 her chest, it's just, wherever it was going, 123 00:07:09,298 --> 00:07:12,954 he just was-- as if she was a toilet, he was just peeing. 124 00:07:12,997 --> 00:07:15,522 You know, just letting it go wherever. 125 00:07:15,565 --> 00:07:20,135 I thought it was gross and-and weird and, uh, belittling. 126 00:07:20,178 --> 00:07:25,270 In regards to the tapes, Robert taping himself, 127 00:07:25,314 --> 00:07:26,663 he's always did that. 128 00:07:26,707 --> 00:07:28,883 Robert recorded everything. 129 00:07:28,926 --> 00:07:33,278 I mean, R. Kelly tapes his sexual encounters. 130 00:07:33,322 --> 00:07:35,933 And he watched his own movies. 131 00:07:35,977 --> 00:07:38,762 Abusers often want trophies 132 00:07:38,806 --> 00:07:42,026 from their criminal acts, 133 00:07:42,070 --> 00:07:44,986 so people will take things 134 00:07:45,029 --> 00:07:49,207 and be able to place memories 135 00:07:49,251 --> 00:07:51,209 and place maybe even sexual feelings 136 00:07:51,253 --> 00:07:54,038 on trophies that they've taken. 137 00:07:54,082 --> 00:07:57,651 And it's power play. You get to actively replay the act. 138 00:07:57,694 --> 00:08:00,218 And when that's not enough, then you make another tape. 139 00:08:02,525 --> 00:08:04,701 LISA: When I saw it, you know, it upset me, 140 00:08:04,745 --> 00:08:06,877 and I didn't want him 141 00:08:06,921 --> 00:08:10,402 to have possession of the tape anymore, 'cause I was on it, 142 00:08:10,446 --> 00:08:14,406 and I took it and kept it on me, and when I got a chance 143 00:08:14,450 --> 00:08:16,408 to go back to my hotel room, 144 00:08:16,452 --> 00:08:19,586 I left it at my hotel room, and he never noticed it was gone. 145 00:08:19,629 --> 00:08:23,851 I actually didn't hold onto the tape that long at all 146 00:08:23,894 --> 00:08:27,507 because I was afraid that he'd find out that I had it. 147 00:08:27,550 --> 00:08:30,510 I had befriended a few of his other artists, 148 00:08:30,553 --> 00:08:32,512 and I actually asked one of them 149 00:08:32,555 --> 00:08:36,516 if they could hold the tape for me. 150 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:38,343 I remember the first time we were in Detroit 151 00:08:38,387 --> 00:08:41,129 and he came to me and he told me about the videotapes. 152 00:08:41,172 --> 00:08:45,873 He'd say, uh, "Man, you got to help me, man. 153 00:08:45,916 --> 00:08:48,745 "We got to pray, man, 'cause these videos, man, 154 00:08:48,789 --> 00:08:52,619 I can't stop taping myself, man, and..." and so we prayed. 155 00:08:52,662 --> 00:08:58,320 I was privy, and shown, um, videos 156 00:08:58,363 --> 00:09:03,064 while I was still employed and, you know, around, yes. 157 00:09:03,107 --> 00:09:05,457 Um, I never saw the-the bag's videos, 158 00:09:05,501 --> 00:09:06,894 because I think I would've been like, 159 00:09:06,937 --> 00:09:08,199 "Man, what the hell are you doing?" 160 00:09:08,243 --> 00:09:10,462 You know? "What-what are you doing?" 161 00:09:10,506 --> 00:09:13,683 But yes, I-I did see several, several videos. 162 00:09:13,727 --> 00:09:16,120 DEMETRIUS: You know, I didn't know 163 00:09:16,164 --> 00:09:18,296 what was ahead, with those tapes, but Robert did. 164 00:09:18,340 --> 00:09:20,864 And he used to come to me 165 00:09:20,908 --> 00:09:23,780 and he used to talk to me about that. 166 00:09:23,824 --> 00:09:25,956 He'd say, "Man, this is gonna get me in trouble, man. 167 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:27,131 "I can't seem to stop. 168 00:09:27,175 --> 00:09:29,786 This is gonna destroy me." 169 00:09:41,145 --> 00:09:44,279 My name is Abdon Pallasch. I was the legal affairs reporter 170 00:09:44,322 --> 00:09:46,107 for the Chicago Sun-Times. 171 00:09:46,150 --> 00:09:49,110 Our rock critic, Jim DeRogatis, 172 00:09:49,153 --> 00:09:53,549 got a fax laying out that there was a relationship going on 173 00:09:53,593 --> 00:09:56,987 with R. Kelly and an underage girl. 174 00:09:57,031 --> 00:09:58,772 Jim's the one who really heard about 175 00:09:58,815 --> 00:10:01,601 the dynamic that was going on 176 00:10:01,644 --> 00:10:03,603 in which people in R. Kelly's own circle were saying 177 00:10:03,646 --> 00:10:05,213 that there was an issue there 178 00:10:05,256 --> 00:10:08,433 where he was just hanging out with young girls. 179 00:10:08,477 --> 00:10:11,349 And Jim had gotten word that some of these young women 180 00:10:11,393 --> 00:10:13,656 had actually filed suit against him. 181 00:10:13,700 --> 00:10:15,963 You know, he approached me as the legal affairs reporter, 182 00:10:16,006 --> 00:10:17,355 you know, "Can we check this out?" 183 00:10:17,399 --> 00:10:19,140 And, you know, I went and started 184 00:10:19,183 --> 00:10:21,403 pulling lawsuits and, sure enough, there were some. 185 00:10:21,446 --> 00:10:23,927 And they generally settled out of court. 186 00:10:23,971 --> 00:10:28,845 But the allegations were pretty explosive. 187 00:10:28,889 --> 00:10:32,675 We started uncovering a series of lawsuits that had been filed 188 00:10:32,719 --> 00:10:35,852 and settlements that had been reached with-with young women 189 00:10:35,896 --> 00:10:38,202 that claim that-that they had sex 190 00:10:38,246 --> 00:10:40,596 with R. Kelly when they were underage. 191 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:45,122 Our first story ran December 21, 2000. 192 00:10:45,166 --> 00:10:49,039 And it said that R. Kelly had been sued by all these girls. 193 00:10:49,083 --> 00:10:53,435 The suits, all added together, 194 00:10:53,478 --> 00:10:55,480 seemed to show a pattern of behavior 195 00:10:55,524 --> 00:10:59,049 of him going after very young girls for sexual relationships. 196 00:10:59,093 --> 00:11:03,445 Immediately after our story ran, 197 00:11:03,488 --> 00:11:05,969 -we started getting calls. -[phone ringing] 198 00:11:06,013 --> 00:11:07,710 Other girls who said this has happened to them, 199 00:11:07,754 --> 00:11:09,712 from girls who said it happened to their friends. 200 00:11:09,756 --> 00:11:11,714 And we-we did follow-up interviews 201 00:11:11,758 --> 00:11:13,542 with as many of them as we could. 202 00:11:13,585 --> 00:11:15,849 A lot of them were very reluctant and shy. 203 00:11:15,892 --> 00:11:17,677 And a lot of times, they wouldn't want to have 204 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:20,810 their names used or even have their full stories appear. 205 00:11:20,854 --> 00:11:22,812 These confidential settlements, you know, 206 00:11:22,856 --> 00:11:24,901 if the girls go public, they-they lose the settlement. 207 00:11:24,945 --> 00:11:26,729 You have to pay it back. So there's 208 00:11:26,773 --> 00:11:29,079 a limit to how much more we're gonna get 209 00:11:29,123 --> 00:11:30,602 from-from people that had already been involved 210 00:11:30,646 --> 00:11:31,908 in-in those sort of suits. 211 00:11:31,952 --> 00:11:34,563 LEMIEUX: These are five, 212 00:11:34,606 --> 00:11:36,565 six-figure settlements. 213 00:11:36,608 --> 00:11:39,307 And so, there we see 214 00:11:39,350 --> 00:11:42,092 the beginning of an ecosystem, right? 215 00:11:42,136 --> 00:11:44,312 Like, there's a-- there's a system 216 00:11:44,355 --> 00:11:47,228 of protecting R. Kelly from accountability. 217 00:11:47,271 --> 00:11:49,796 They said they were minors. 218 00:11:49,839 --> 00:11:51,101 -Mm-hmm. -You settled out of court. 219 00:11:51,145 --> 00:11:53,495 -Yeah. -In this country, 220 00:11:53,538 --> 00:11:55,845 many people will assume that means you were guilty. 221 00:11:55,889 --> 00:11:57,934 Why'd you settle? 222 00:11:57,978 --> 00:12:00,589 I really can't go into detail about that particular thing, 223 00:12:00,632 --> 00:12:02,243 because, when I filed the lawsuit, 224 00:12:02,286 --> 00:12:04,724 um, of course, I signed, uh, 225 00:12:04,767 --> 00:12:06,856 a piece of paper saying I couldn't discuss 226 00:12:06,900 --> 00:12:08,771 -those particular people in the situation. -So there's a confidentiality 227 00:12:08,815 --> 00:12:11,165 -agreement after the fact. -Exactly. Exactly. 228 00:12:11,208 --> 00:12:13,907 TARANA BURKE: The idea that R. Kelly was using 229 00:12:13,950 --> 00:12:16,648 nondisclosure agreements to keep these young girls 230 00:12:16,692 --> 00:12:19,260 and their families quiet, 231 00:12:19,303 --> 00:12:20,957 that means that he is cognizant 232 00:12:21,001 --> 00:12:23,177 of the kind of things that he's doing 233 00:12:23,220 --> 00:12:25,353 and he's trying to protect himself on the front end. 234 00:12:25,396 --> 00:12:27,921 And I think that this is the thing that makes him, to me, 235 00:12:27,964 --> 00:12:29,270 more the-- more of a predator. 236 00:12:31,881 --> 00:12:34,536 LEMIEUX: You can get people to sign NDAs. 237 00:12:34,579 --> 00:12:36,494 We can make people go away with a check. 238 00:12:36,538 --> 00:12:38,192 We don't have to do this in court, 239 00:12:38,235 --> 00:12:39,933 in front of the cameras and in front of, 240 00:12:39,976 --> 00:12:42,109 you know, the paparazzi 241 00:12:42,152 --> 00:12:43,675 and the tabloids. 242 00:12:43,719 --> 00:12:46,504 We can make these things go away. 243 00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:49,725 His camp was very unhappy 244 00:12:49,769 --> 00:12:52,119 and pushed back hard and said it was all false. 245 00:12:52,162 --> 00:12:54,730 But they couldn't point 246 00:12:54,774 --> 00:12:57,037 to any part of the story that was actually false, 247 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,257 'cause it was all taken from court documents. 248 00:13:00,301 --> 00:13:03,217 LISA: At this point, there were tapes floating around. 249 00:13:03,260 --> 00:13:05,959 I-I didn't want a sex tape of me floating around 250 00:13:06,002 --> 00:13:08,788 the Internet or on TV or anything, so... 251 00:13:08,831 --> 00:13:11,399 the only thing I could think of doing at that point would be to, 252 00:13:11,442 --> 00:13:16,056 um, to see if Rob could figure out a way to get the tape back. 253 00:13:16,099 --> 00:13:19,581 I actually ended up contacting Rob 254 00:13:19,624 --> 00:13:22,192 and told him that I had took the tape. 255 00:13:23,585 --> 00:13:28,895 He flew me back up to Chicago. 256 00:13:28,938 --> 00:13:30,505 I told him that they probably wouldn't just 257 00:13:30,548 --> 00:13:33,334 give it back to me, that they probably need something, 258 00:13:33,377 --> 00:13:34,465 or whatever, to get it back. 259 00:13:37,033 --> 00:13:39,296 And so he arranged for them 260 00:13:39,340 --> 00:13:43,518 to be paid to get him back his tape. 261 00:13:43,561 --> 00:13:46,086 He had them take lie detector tests, well, one of the guys, 262 00:13:46,129 --> 00:13:51,047 and me, and, uh, I passed, and the guy did not 263 00:13:51,091 --> 00:13:54,007 because he was lying, he said that he didn't make any copies, 264 00:13:54,050 --> 00:13:56,052 and he actually did. 265 00:13:56,096 --> 00:14:00,187 So, um, he ended up giving, you know, like, a little payment 266 00:14:00,230 --> 00:14:03,320 for that copy and then he said, "When you bring the rest back, 267 00:14:03,364 --> 00:14:05,888 you'll get, you know, the rest of the money." 268 00:14:08,717 --> 00:14:12,895 Rob said $250,000 was what it was gonna be. 269 00:14:14,897 --> 00:14:18,770 He actually gave the money to his accountant. 270 00:14:18,814 --> 00:14:23,514 You know, he ended up getting the tape, uh, for Rob 271 00:14:23,558 --> 00:14:26,213 on the last, uh, visit that I went up there. 272 00:14:35,222 --> 00:14:39,661 I just didn't know that there was a point in time... 273 00:14:45,972 --> 00:14:48,278 ...where... 274 00:14:51,891 --> 00:14:53,980 ...where they were talking... 275 00:14:57,026 --> 00:15:00,551 ...where they were talking... about killing me. 276 00:15:19,135 --> 00:15:22,225 So we started doing the stories, and we'd heard that there was 277 00:15:22,269 --> 00:15:25,446 videotapes out there of R. Kelly with the underage girls, 278 00:15:25,489 --> 00:15:28,144 and we'd let it be known that we'd be happy to, you know, 279 00:15:28,188 --> 00:15:30,712 get those tapes, if they could assist in our reporting. 280 00:15:32,714 --> 00:15:34,977 One day, an anonymous video 281 00:15:35,021 --> 00:15:38,459 was-was dropped off in Jim's mailbox. 282 00:15:38,502 --> 00:15:40,330 So this appeared to be R. Kelly 283 00:15:40,374 --> 00:15:42,767 engaging in sex with an underage girl. 284 00:15:42,811 --> 00:15:46,771 Tongues are really wagging, ears are really burning, 285 00:15:46,815 --> 00:15:50,384 because they're like, "Did you hear about this sex tape?" 286 00:15:50,427 --> 00:15:52,212 So that means everything else that we've been hearing, 287 00:15:52,255 --> 00:15:53,735 we knew it was true. 288 00:15:53,778 --> 00:15:55,780 That set everything off. 289 00:15:55,824 --> 00:15:57,957 MITCHELL: The newsroom was in an uproar. 290 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:00,655 The editors had to make a decision whether or not 291 00:16:00,698 --> 00:16:05,181 this was so important that we could sit and view a tape 292 00:16:05,225 --> 00:16:07,879 and to basically pursue a story 293 00:16:07,923 --> 00:16:11,100 that literally was based in pornography, child pornography. 294 00:16:14,060 --> 00:16:18,194 So it was very easy to look at that videotape 295 00:16:18,238 --> 00:16:21,023 and believe that that was R. Kelly on the tape 296 00:16:21,067 --> 00:16:22,285 and that the girl was underage. 297 00:16:22,329 --> 00:16:23,547 She looked like a child. 298 00:16:26,159 --> 00:16:28,248 I got to tell you, 299 00:16:28,291 --> 00:16:31,686 as a mother and as a grandmother and as a black woman, 300 00:16:31,729 --> 00:16:35,037 I was sickened by what I saw. 301 00:16:35,081 --> 00:16:38,693 It contained very graphic, 302 00:16:38,736 --> 00:16:42,914 um... hardcore porn. 303 00:16:42,958 --> 00:16:45,004 If I could just be blunt. 304 00:16:45,047 --> 00:16:47,963 Various sexual acts, including urination, 305 00:16:48,007 --> 00:16:51,010 oral sex, everything that you can name. 306 00:16:51,053 --> 00:16:53,795 PALLASCH: There'd just be denial after denial 307 00:16:53,838 --> 00:16:56,972 from people in the community that knew R. Kelly. 308 00:16:57,016 --> 00:16:58,321 They'd just say, "Oh, it's all wrong, it's all wrong. 309 00:16:58,365 --> 00:17:00,062 These are people out to get R. Kelly." 310 00:17:00,106 --> 00:17:02,064 But, you know, you can't 311 00:17:02,108 --> 00:17:04,980 be dissuaded, you can't be, uh, intimidated out of these things. 312 00:17:05,024 --> 00:17:06,373 We didn't let up our reporting at all. 313 00:17:13,032 --> 00:17:15,904 We were made aware that there was a 14-year-old girl. 314 00:17:15,947 --> 00:17:18,515 His bass player's daughter that he was, uh, 315 00:17:18,559 --> 00:17:21,170 having an-an, a sexual relationship with 316 00:17:21,214 --> 00:17:22,693 at that time we were doing the stories. 317 00:17:25,392 --> 00:17:29,091 SPARKLE: Chicago Sun-Times contacted me 318 00:17:29,135 --> 00:17:34,618 and wanted me to come down to their offices to view tapes 319 00:17:34,662 --> 00:17:37,360 that possibly had, 320 00:17:37,404 --> 00:17:40,624 um, girls on it that I may have known. 321 00:17:40,668 --> 00:17:43,627 On the tape, 322 00:17:43,671 --> 00:17:46,891 my niece has the same hairstyle she had 323 00:17:46,935 --> 00:17:50,504 when she turned 14. 324 00:17:50,547 --> 00:17:53,898 That was her, for sure. 325 00:17:53,942 --> 00:17:56,466 And that was him, definitely. 326 00:18:10,001 --> 00:18:13,048 My name is Raven, 327 00:18:13,092 --> 00:18:15,790 and I was friends with the girl in the tape 328 00:18:15,833 --> 00:18:18,097 since 1997, junior high on. 329 00:18:21,230 --> 00:18:23,928 We bonded over basketball. 330 00:18:23,972 --> 00:18:26,279 She and I were the, you know, star basketball players 331 00:18:26,322 --> 00:18:28,324 of our junior high team. 332 00:18:28,368 --> 00:18:30,109 We spent a lot of time together, 333 00:18:30,152 --> 00:18:31,806 both on and off the court. 334 00:18:31,849 --> 00:18:33,808 Her personality was vibrant. 335 00:18:33,851 --> 00:18:35,592 Always happy, 336 00:18:35,636 --> 00:18:39,379 always having a great time, the life of the party. 337 00:18:39,422 --> 00:18:42,382 Just a really fun, wonderful person to be around. 338 00:18:44,775 --> 00:18:46,647 JACQUES CONWAY: Oak Park is a small town, 339 00:18:46,690 --> 00:18:48,431 so you get to know people quite well. 340 00:18:48,475 --> 00:18:51,173 As a coach, I saw her play from junior high 341 00:18:51,217 --> 00:18:54,220 up until she got on my team as a sophomore in high school. 342 00:18:54,263 --> 00:18:56,961 Her parents were very responsible, 343 00:18:57,005 --> 00:18:59,094 like any family in Oak Park River Forest. 344 00:18:59,138 --> 00:19:00,617 You know, two parents who worked, 345 00:19:00,661 --> 00:19:02,619 sent their kid to the same school they went to. 346 00:19:02,663 --> 00:19:04,708 Very supportive of their kids' activities 347 00:19:04,752 --> 00:19:06,797 by attending those events. 348 00:19:06,841 --> 00:19:10,192 GENGLER: R. Kelly would come to some basketball games. 349 00:19:10,236 --> 00:19:12,194 I would see him in the stands. 350 00:19:12,238 --> 00:19:14,153 It almost seemed like a doting father 351 00:19:14,196 --> 00:19:16,155 when R. Kelly would see her. 352 00:19:18,157 --> 00:19:20,985 CONWAY: It was just strange for me, 353 00:19:21,029 --> 00:19:22,683 to see a-a grown man hanging out at a high school 354 00:19:22,726 --> 00:19:23,901 with high school girls. 355 00:19:27,209 --> 00:19:29,777 SPARKLE: Like, you hear things, 356 00:19:29,820 --> 00:19:33,215 but to see it visually, 357 00:19:33,259 --> 00:19:38,177 and for her to be so young... 358 00:19:38,220 --> 00:19:40,179 it [bleep] me up. 359 00:19:40,222 --> 00:19:43,965 It really did-- like, it's over with, 360 00:19:44,008 --> 00:19:46,968 but it still haunts me. 361 00:19:47,011 --> 00:19:50,276 You know? 362 00:19:50,319 --> 00:19:55,846 And I hate this [bleep], that it happened. 363 00:19:55,890 --> 00:19:58,980 It shouldn't have happened. 364 00:19:59,023 --> 00:20:02,679 I should have never introduced her to him. 365 00:20:02,723 --> 00:20:07,118 I should have never introduced my family to him. 366 00:20:07,162 --> 00:20:10,644 Like, how dare you. 367 00:20:10,687 --> 00:20:12,950 How dare you. 368 00:20:23,004 --> 00:20:25,920 SPARKLE: How dare you. 369 00:20:25,963 --> 00:20:28,966 [sniffles] 370 00:20:29,010 --> 00:20:31,447 What the [bleep]? 371 00:20:31,491 --> 00:20:33,449 "What are you doing, Robert?" Like, I never thought 372 00:20:33,493 --> 00:20:36,191 he would do this [bleep] to my family. 373 00:20:36,235 --> 00:20:39,368 I don't know how theSun-Times got the tape. 374 00:20:39,412 --> 00:20:41,327 Who dropped it off, who sent it, 375 00:20:41,370 --> 00:20:45,287 who threw it-- I-I have no idea. 376 00:20:45,331 --> 00:20:50,423 There was a money transaction from Robert to my niece 377 00:20:50,466 --> 00:20:53,208 in the beginning of this videotape. 378 00:20:53,252 --> 00:20:58,300 After the money transaction, then there was a transaction... 379 00:20:58,344 --> 00:20:59,997 [laughs softly] 380 00:21:00,041 --> 00:21:02,783 ...if you understand what I'm saying. 381 00:21:02,826 --> 00:21:07,309 A sexual transaction. 382 00:21:07,353 --> 00:21:11,618 And I didn't need to see any more, 383 00:21:11,661 --> 00:21:14,447 'cause I knew it was her. 384 00:21:14,490 --> 00:21:17,624 PALLASCH: We were able to confirm 385 00:21:17,667 --> 00:21:21,018 it was indeed her at a time when she was 14. 386 00:21:21,062 --> 00:21:25,632 R. Kelly and an underage girl having sex. 387 00:21:25,675 --> 00:21:27,547 Here, we have evidence of a felony. 388 00:21:27,590 --> 00:21:30,158 Now, you don't want to become an arm of the prosecution. 389 00:21:30,201 --> 00:21:31,986 Journalists are supposed to be separate and apart from that. 390 00:21:32,029 --> 00:21:35,206 But if you find a body in the lobby of the Sun-Times, 391 00:21:35,250 --> 00:21:36,469 you call the police. 392 00:21:36,512 --> 00:21:38,819 And we ultimately did. 393 00:21:38,862 --> 00:21:43,345 Here was a child who was being used by a grown man 394 00:21:43,389 --> 00:21:47,349 for sexual gratification, and obviously, no one cared. 395 00:21:47,393 --> 00:21:50,787 People knew what was going on at his, uh, residence. 396 00:21:50,831 --> 00:21:53,573 They probably saw this girl in and out, 397 00:21:53,616 --> 00:21:56,053 but proving that was a different thing. 398 00:21:56,097 --> 00:21:57,925 It was obvious she was young. 399 00:21:57,968 --> 00:22:00,362 It was on tape. Everybody saw it. 400 00:22:00,406 --> 00:22:02,146 It shows you how rich 401 00:22:02,190 --> 00:22:04,279 and powerful men can get away with a lot of things. 402 00:22:04,323 --> 00:22:06,716 But it also shows the power imbalance 403 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:09,893 between the abuser and the victim, as well. 404 00:22:12,331 --> 00:22:14,202 Ever since this-this tape thing, 405 00:22:14,245 --> 00:22:15,986 this rumor has come out, you know, there's been 406 00:22:16,030 --> 00:22:17,423 a whole lot of people, you know, 407 00:22:17,466 --> 00:22:19,425 uh, it's been a R. Kelly Day, man. 408 00:22:19,468 --> 00:22:22,079 It's been people trying to, you know, say this or say that, 409 00:22:22,123 --> 00:22:23,951 coming out of the woodwork for me, you know, 410 00:22:23,994 --> 00:22:25,169 just trying to get paid. 411 00:22:25,213 --> 00:22:26,780 I'm not a monster that people, 412 00:22:26,823 --> 00:22:29,217 that people are saying I am, and, uh, 413 00:22:29,260 --> 00:22:32,612 if people out there have a tape of me, and they're saying 414 00:22:32,655 --> 00:22:35,136 it's with me and a young girl, a minor, 415 00:22:35,179 --> 00:22:37,617 then they're sadly mistaken or they're lying. 416 00:22:37,660 --> 00:22:39,314 [film projector clicking] 417 00:22:39,358 --> 00:22:41,229 JOVANTE: In his mind, I think he believes 418 00:22:41,272 --> 00:22:43,623 some of his own sick lies. In his mind, he didn't do it. 419 00:22:43,666 --> 00:22:46,016 He has no level of personal accountability 420 00:22:46,060 --> 00:22:48,105 as it relates to his poor behavior. 421 00:22:48,149 --> 00:22:50,151 His attempt to say it wasn't him is ridiculous. 422 00:22:50,194 --> 00:22:52,501 At one point, he's having sex with this woman, 423 00:22:52,545 --> 00:22:56,549 and somebody is yelling from another room, you know, 424 00:22:56,592 --> 00:22:59,987 "R. Kells, pick up the phone. It's phone for you..." 425 00:23:00,030 --> 00:23:01,423 and, like, yelling his name. 426 00:23:01,467 --> 00:23:04,208 PALLASCH: Eventually, 427 00:23:04,252 --> 00:23:06,602 bootleg copies of the tape start showing up 428 00:23:06,646 --> 00:23:08,038 around the country. 429 00:23:08,082 --> 00:23:09,431 People are watching it in clubs. 430 00:23:09,475 --> 00:23:11,215 MITCHELL: This tape was duplicated 431 00:23:11,259 --> 00:23:13,174 and was for sale all over the South Side. 432 00:23:13,217 --> 00:23:15,481 So you could drive up to a, 433 00:23:15,524 --> 00:23:18,353 one of these, uh, outdoor flea markets and get a tape 434 00:23:18,397 --> 00:23:20,224 of R. Kelly-- 435 00:23:20,268 --> 00:23:23,837 allegedly R. Kelly-- having sex with an underage girl. 436 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,101 This is before the whole advent of-of sex tapes, 437 00:23:27,144 --> 00:23:30,974 and I think the tape came on VHS. 438 00:23:31,018 --> 00:23:33,803 As a matter of fact, it was a VHS tape. 439 00:23:33,847 --> 00:23:37,328 That tape was rushed to me from Chicago. 440 00:23:37,372 --> 00:23:42,812 I'm looking at this tape, I'm like, "Oh..." 441 00:23:45,162 --> 00:23:49,210 Robert has a problem. 442 00:23:49,253 --> 00:23:50,429 A lot of people saw that pee tape. 443 00:23:50,472 --> 00:23:51,865 It was circulating in the streets, 444 00:23:51,908 --> 00:23:53,562 it was, like, a bootleg that went around. 445 00:23:53,606 --> 00:23:55,085 I don't remember what I was thinking at that time, 446 00:23:55,129 --> 00:23:56,391 but I'm like, "How did he get away with this?" 447 00:23:58,611 --> 00:24:00,264 BURKE: When I think about 448 00:24:00,308 --> 00:24:03,920 this grown man urinating in the mouth of a child, 449 00:24:03,964 --> 00:24:06,923 and how degrading that is, when I first heard it, 450 00:24:06,967 --> 00:24:10,274 it just really concretized for me 451 00:24:10,318 --> 00:24:12,146 that this person is a monster. 452 00:24:14,844 --> 00:24:16,716 The tape is incredibly graphic. 453 00:24:16,759 --> 00:24:19,240 That makes it almost impossible-- 454 00:24:19,283 --> 00:24:21,285 or should have made it impossible-- 455 00:24:21,329 --> 00:24:24,114 for people to pretend that they did not know 456 00:24:24,158 --> 00:24:27,640 that this person had a thing for little girls. 457 00:24:27,683 --> 00:24:29,990 It's strange. 458 00:24:30,033 --> 00:24:31,774 You have R. Kelly performing at the opening ceremonies 459 00:24:31,818 --> 00:24:35,909 of the Olympics... 460 00:24:35,952 --> 00:24:38,738 at the same time that there was this sex tape. 461 00:24:38,781 --> 00:24:41,218 So for R. Kelly to be there, 462 00:24:41,262 --> 00:24:44,308 just speaks to how huge he was. 463 00:24:44,352 --> 00:24:47,268 ANN POWERS: The story of sexual predation 464 00:24:47,311 --> 00:24:51,011 as an inconvenience in popular music 465 00:24:51,054 --> 00:24:54,841 is so old. 466 00:24:54,884 --> 00:24:58,627 It's been going on for decades, centuries. 467 00:24:58,671 --> 00:25:03,371 Nobody wants to give up the music they love 468 00:25:03,414 --> 00:25:06,983 and nobody wants to think badly of the artists they love. 469 00:25:07,027 --> 00:25:09,377 And I think that happened with R. Kelly. 470 00:25:09,420 --> 00:25:11,248 SPARKLE: I was pissed. 471 00:25:11,292 --> 00:25:12,859 I'm like, "Who would do this?" 472 00:25:12,902 --> 00:25:16,253 Not only was I pissed at Robert for filming this [bleep], 473 00:25:16,297 --> 00:25:18,517 I was pissed at the person who put this out, 474 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,215 because I'm like, "Look, this is a little girl on this tape." 475 00:25:21,258 --> 00:25:24,523 "Why would y'all do that?" 476 00:25:24,566 --> 00:25:26,655 CONWAY: I was made aware 477 00:25:26,699 --> 00:25:32,052 by, uh, some students that there was a, a, uh, tape, a sex tape. 478 00:25:32,095 --> 00:25:34,881 One of my basketball players with R. Kelly. 479 00:25:34,924 --> 00:25:38,406 Uh, and they were selling it on the West Side of Chicago. 480 00:25:38,449 --> 00:25:41,975 My specialty was sex crimes against minors 481 00:25:42,018 --> 00:25:43,890 for the Oak Park Police Department, 482 00:25:43,933 --> 00:25:47,546 so I went to the West Side, got a copy of this tape. 483 00:25:47,589 --> 00:25:49,591 And I actually saw it at the police station. 484 00:25:49,635 --> 00:25:52,246 It was just very disheartening, it was very sad. 485 00:25:52,289 --> 00:25:54,988 This was the first victim that I personally knew. 486 00:25:55,031 --> 00:25:57,207 And so, it was very heart-- uh, 487 00:25:57,251 --> 00:26:00,776 heartfelt to-to experience this, to see it, 488 00:26:00,820 --> 00:26:02,952 and felt that something had to be done about it. 489 00:26:05,172 --> 00:26:09,350 Watching the tape and just thinking about, you know, 490 00:26:09,393 --> 00:26:11,874 if that were me or if that were my daughter, 491 00:26:11,918 --> 00:26:14,703 it just, obviously, tears me apart. 492 00:26:14,747 --> 00:26:17,401 I wouldn't want that to happen to any young lady 493 00:26:17,445 --> 00:26:19,490 who's still young, still figuring out life, 494 00:26:19,534 --> 00:26:22,189 just looking up to this person who's supposed to be somebody 495 00:26:22,232 --> 00:26:26,106 that you trust and... 496 00:26:26,149 --> 00:26:29,196 that trust, obviously, being taken complete advantage of. 497 00:26:33,461 --> 00:26:35,376 PRODUCER: When you found out about that tape, 498 00:26:35,419 --> 00:26:37,770 can you tell me how you found out about it? 499 00:26:43,732 --> 00:26:45,516 [quietly]: It don't even matter. 500 00:26:48,128 --> 00:26:50,652 It doesn't matter how I found out about that tape. 501 00:26:50,696 --> 00:26:53,176 What matters is that it existed. 502 00:26:55,309 --> 00:26:57,093 It doesn't matter. 503 00:26:57,137 --> 00:26:59,095 Who cares? 504 00:27:01,620 --> 00:27:03,447 Should've never happened. 505 00:27:08,104 --> 00:27:10,803 I love that baby. 506 00:27:13,849 --> 00:27:16,069 Like she was mine. 507 00:27:16,112 --> 00:27:19,725 That was my baby. 508 00:27:19,768 --> 00:27:23,816 And for him to do that to her... 509 00:27:33,303 --> 00:27:34,696 Man... 510 00:27:46,577 --> 00:27:48,144 LISA: It was 2000. 511 00:27:48,188 --> 00:27:50,886 I had just turned 20 years old. 512 00:27:50,930 --> 00:27:56,283 I ended up, um, missing my period and I told Rob 513 00:27:56,326 --> 00:27:58,372 that I thought that I was pregnant. 514 00:27:58,415 --> 00:28:02,419 And he asked me to, um, did I take a pregnancy test? 515 00:28:02,463 --> 00:28:06,728 I told him I did, and, um, after that, he asked me 516 00:28:06,772 --> 00:28:11,994 to get another test and then to take that one in front of him. 517 00:28:12,038 --> 00:28:15,128 And I did that, and it came up positive. 518 00:28:15,171 --> 00:28:18,000 And, um, he asked me what did I want to do, 519 00:28:18,044 --> 00:28:20,263 and I told him, "To get an abortion." 520 00:28:20,307 --> 00:28:24,050 He contacted his assistant 521 00:28:24,093 --> 00:28:26,530 and a week later, 522 00:28:26,574 --> 00:28:31,100 we went to Planned Parenthood and I had my abortion. 523 00:28:31,144 --> 00:28:35,148 It kind of was, like, the only option to me because, um, 524 00:28:35,191 --> 00:28:38,281 I didn't really want to have a kid by him. 525 00:28:38,325 --> 00:28:40,588 I was concerned with if it would be a girl, 526 00:28:40,631 --> 00:28:42,764 what I would have to deal with, so... 527 00:28:42,808 --> 00:28:44,853 I knew she would get older at some point. 528 00:28:44,897 --> 00:28:47,595 There were, there were things that I just had to think about 529 00:28:47,638 --> 00:28:49,989 in my mind, you know, "Okay, he did this 530 00:28:50,032 --> 00:28:52,513 "with someone else's, um, child, 531 00:28:52,556 --> 00:28:55,777 I mean, what would keep him from doing that to mine?" 532 00:28:57,474 --> 00:28:58,693 PRODUCER: What was he like as a father? 533 00:28:58,737 --> 00:29:01,478 Was he loving with your children? 534 00:29:01,522 --> 00:29:04,394 I think Robert loved our children 535 00:29:04,438 --> 00:29:06,309 the best way he knew how. 536 00:29:06,353 --> 00:29:09,008 He didn't have a father figure in his life, 537 00:29:09,051 --> 00:29:13,795 so he really didn't... know how to be a father. 538 00:29:13,839 --> 00:29:16,015 He just knew how to provide. 539 00:29:18,234 --> 00:29:22,151 MITCHELL: The thing about Andrea Kelly and him marrying her 540 00:29:22,195 --> 00:29:24,937 is that nobody saw her after that. 541 00:29:24,980 --> 00:29:27,200 It was like she was locked up, 542 00:29:27,243 --> 00:29:29,985 uh, o-on their estate, and she wasn't allowed out. 543 00:29:30,029 --> 00:29:31,813 There were stories about-- 544 00:29:31,857 --> 00:29:34,424 that even if they, she wanted to get her hair done, 545 00:29:34,468 --> 00:29:37,688 or get her makeup done, the people had to come to her, 546 00:29:37,732 --> 00:29:39,734 that she was not allowed to come out. 547 00:29:39,778 --> 00:29:43,172 And so it was a real odd, strange situation. 548 00:29:43,216 --> 00:29:46,132 People were wondering, especially journalists, 549 00:29:46,175 --> 00:29:48,395 why in the midst of all these allegations 550 00:29:48,438 --> 00:29:50,658 of him having sex with underage girls, 551 00:29:50,701 --> 00:29:52,921 number one, why would she marry him? 552 00:29:52,965 --> 00:29:56,707 And number two, was she really free to ever leave home? 553 00:29:56,751 --> 00:29:58,753 Was she a prisoner in her own home? 554 00:29:58,797 --> 00:30:01,060 Just, what that relationship was all about. 555 00:30:01,103 --> 00:30:02,931 There was a lot of speculation about 556 00:30:02,975 --> 00:30:05,804 what was going on in the Kelly household. 557 00:30:07,718 --> 00:30:09,938 ANDREA: I would always hear rumors about, 558 00:30:09,982 --> 00:30:11,026 "Oh, he's being sued by this person, 559 00:30:11,070 --> 00:30:12,680 and sued by that person..." 560 00:30:12,723 --> 00:30:15,596 And it almost seemed like every other week, 561 00:30:15,639 --> 00:30:18,294 he was in the tabloids for something. 562 00:30:18,338 --> 00:30:19,818 Another person's coming forward, 563 00:30:19,861 --> 00:30:21,689 and I'm thinking to myself, like, 564 00:30:21,732 --> 00:30:23,865 "When did you have time? 565 00:30:23,909 --> 00:30:26,825 Are there more--" like, "Do you have a doppelganger around here 566 00:30:26,868 --> 00:30:28,957 that I don't know about?" Like, "When do you have time 567 00:30:29,001 --> 00:30:31,568 "to go to the studio, play basketball, come abuse me, 568 00:30:31,612 --> 00:30:33,570 "be a dad-- when you wanted to-- 569 00:30:33,614 --> 00:30:35,529 "and then go destroy other people's lives, 570 00:30:35,572 --> 00:30:37,574 and still be on the road and shoot videos?" 571 00:30:37,618 --> 00:30:41,143 Like, it was just, my mind couldn't fathom, like, 572 00:30:41,187 --> 00:30:44,494 "How are you doing all this?" 573 00:30:44,538 --> 00:30:46,932 And why didn't I know anything about it? 574 00:30:46,975 --> 00:30:51,197 And I think the frustration set in because it then became 575 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:54,417 very real to me: "Drea, the reason why you don't know 576 00:30:54,461 --> 00:30:56,593 and he's able to do it, because he has people helping him." 577 00:30:58,900 --> 00:31:00,859 BURKE: He had to have backup 578 00:31:00,902 --> 00:31:03,818 in order to continue this level of behavior that he had. 579 00:31:03,862 --> 00:31:06,125 His predatory behavior was supported 580 00:31:06,168 --> 00:31:08,736 by the people around him, in his camp. 581 00:31:08,779 --> 00:31:10,781 And also, it points, to me, to the person who understands 582 00:31:10,825 --> 00:31:12,653 that they're doing something wrong. 583 00:31:12,696 --> 00:31:14,307 Right? That you know that you're doing something wrong 584 00:31:14,350 --> 00:31:15,917 if you have to create systems 585 00:31:15,961 --> 00:31:18,180 to protect yourself from being exposed. 586 00:31:18,224 --> 00:31:21,575 PRODUCER: Did you ever meet his wife? 587 00:31:21,618 --> 00:31:24,447 Um, there were times where she'd be checking in 588 00:31:24,491 --> 00:31:26,797 to the same hotel as me at the same time. 589 00:31:26,841 --> 00:31:31,454 She might be with his publicist, and I'd be with his assistant. 590 00:31:31,498 --> 00:31:34,588 He kept us apart. 591 00:31:34,631 --> 00:31:36,720 You have your team, you have your cover-up people. 592 00:31:36,764 --> 00:31:39,158 You have lawyers settling claims out of court. 593 00:31:39,201 --> 00:31:41,856 Not trying to be funny: you don't read and write well, 594 00:31:41,900 --> 00:31:43,597 so you're not booking flights. 595 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:45,729 Who's booking these flights? 596 00:31:45,773 --> 00:31:49,168 Who's-who's telling the driver to go pick people up? 597 00:31:49,211 --> 00:31:52,606 Who's getting these hotel rooms? He's not doing it on his own. 598 00:31:54,782 --> 00:31:56,697 CRAIG: I tell you, I don't know if the music industry 599 00:31:56,740 --> 00:31:58,960 in all knew about what was going on with Rob, 600 00:31:59,004 --> 00:32:01,441 but I do know that around Rob's camp, 601 00:32:01,484 --> 00:32:04,879 everyone knew, and nothing was done. 602 00:32:04,923 --> 00:32:06,968 And when you have those type of people 603 00:32:07,012 --> 00:32:11,494 who are your yes-men around you, uh, it will continue to happen. 604 00:32:11,538 --> 00:32:15,281 And if it wasn't right, it was obviously buried 605 00:32:15,324 --> 00:32:18,240 so that the rest of the world didn't know about it. 606 00:32:18,284 --> 00:32:20,634 DEMETRIUS: That's the way it was. 607 00:32:20,677 --> 00:32:22,766 It was every day, you know? 608 00:32:22,810 --> 00:32:25,856 It's the same routine, because he can have his way. 609 00:32:25,900 --> 00:32:28,859 We work for him, and this is what he wanted 610 00:32:28,903 --> 00:32:33,168 and so this is what we were supposed to get him. 611 00:32:33,212 --> 00:32:35,954 If you're an adult who's around him 612 00:32:35,997 --> 00:32:38,608 and you're aware and you're not saying anything, 613 00:32:38,652 --> 00:32:41,698 you're just as sick as he is. Please understand that. 614 00:32:41,742 --> 00:32:43,831 It doesn't make you any better because you're not doing it. 615 00:32:43,874 --> 00:32:45,311 If you're aware and you're not saying anything, 616 00:32:45,354 --> 00:32:47,356 you're just as sick. 617 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,925 LEMIEUX: You've had these relations with young girls. 618 00:32:50,969 --> 00:32:52,927 There's a video. We're not talking about rumors 619 00:32:52,971 --> 00:32:54,494 at this point, we're talking about something 620 00:32:54,537 --> 00:32:58,150 that we can watch, to this day. 621 00:32:58,193 --> 00:33:02,328 So it feels like they're taking a stand against black girls. 622 00:33:02,371 --> 00:33:05,722 It feels like they're taking a stance to say, 623 00:33:05,766 --> 00:33:09,509 "Protecting Robert Kelly and his ability to make music 624 00:33:09,552 --> 00:33:13,121 "and entertain fans means more than what he did 625 00:33:13,165 --> 00:33:16,124 in his private life with these little girls." 626 00:33:16,168 --> 00:33:19,910 [cheering] 627 00:33:19,954 --> 00:33:22,261 R. Kelly has done a really good job 628 00:33:22,304 --> 00:33:26,004 at sort of spreading himself around musically. 629 00:33:26,047 --> 00:33:28,310 So he's got these hypersexual songs 630 00:33:28,354 --> 00:33:30,356 like "Bump n' Grind," and then he's got 631 00:33:30,399 --> 00:33:34,273 the inspirational songs like "I Believe I Can Fly." 632 00:33:34,316 --> 00:33:36,666 And... [scoffs] I mean, you know, 633 00:33:36,710 --> 00:33:39,974 how can the guy who made "I Believe I Can Fly," 634 00:33:40,018 --> 00:33:43,238 which is played on Sunday mornings 635 00:33:43,282 --> 00:33:45,371 in church, in many black churches, 636 00:33:45,414 --> 00:33:50,419 how can that guy be wrong? 637 00:33:50,463 --> 00:33:54,467 One young exec stated, 638 00:33:54,510 --> 00:33:59,167 "I don't care if that is him on that tape, 639 00:33:59,211 --> 00:34:04,216 because we can't afford to lose him." 640 00:34:04,259 --> 00:34:08,133 I was like, "Wow. That's some serious [bleep]." 641 00:34:08,176 --> 00:34:11,179 Can't afford to lose him, 642 00:34:11,223 --> 00:34:16,750 and you don't care if it is him on this tape, with a young girl. 643 00:34:16,793 --> 00:34:18,665 I was like, "That shows what type of... 644 00:34:18,708 --> 00:34:21,885 [scoffs] person you are." 645 00:34:21,929 --> 00:34:24,192 When someone like R. Kelly gets in trouble, 646 00:34:24,236 --> 00:34:26,847 there-there's this knee-jerk instinct to protect him 647 00:34:26,890 --> 00:34:28,588 from "the system." 648 00:34:28,631 --> 00:34:31,547 From the hand of the law, from all these forces 649 00:34:31,591 --> 00:34:33,767 that are at play to make sure that black people-- 650 00:34:33,810 --> 00:34:35,073 black men in particular-- don't succeed. 651 00:34:35,116 --> 00:34:36,596 We have to stand by him. 652 00:34:36,639 --> 00:34:38,859 We have to take care of him. 653 00:34:38,902 --> 00:34:42,341 But his crimes were against black women and girls. 654 00:34:42,384 --> 00:34:46,823 And that was devastating for me, because at this point, 655 00:34:46,867 --> 00:34:49,957 we already knew, but now we know some more. 656 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,612 You know, that this Aaliyah thing was not a moment. 657 00:34:52,655 --> 00:34:55,702 This wasn't, "Oh, my God, she was just so mature, 658 00:34:55,745 --> 00:34:57,486 she was just, I was just spellbound, 659 00:34:57,530 --> 00:34:59,140 there was just something about her." 660 00:34:59,184 --> 00:35:03,188 It wasn't just those rumors about Kenwood. 661 00:35:03,231 --> 00:35:06,060 It's on tape, and it's disgusting. 662 00:35:06,104 --> 00:35:07,931 And the tape is being distributed 663 00:35:07,975 --> 00:35:10,543 in-in barbershops and on porn sites 664 00:35:10,586 --> 00:35:12,849 and it's everywhere. 665 00:35:12,893 --> 00:35:15,243 And people are still not willing to say 666 00:35:15,287 --> 00:35:17,941 "I can't do this with you anymore." 667 00:35:28,082 --> 00:35:33,740 I called my oldest brother... 668 00:35:33,783 --> 00:35:38,048 and I told him that I just had seen a tape, 669 00:35:38,092 --> 00:35:41,269 and it showed our niece on it. 670 00:35:41,313 --> 00:35:43,967 You know, I didn't want to bring it to my sister 671 00:35:44,011 --> 00:35:47,493 because I don't know how to bring this to her. 672 00:35:47,536 --> 00:35:51,149 I couldn't really keep my head in the game at this point. 673 00:35:51,192 --> 00:35:55,153 What mattered was me protecting my family 674 00:35:55,196 --> 00:35:58,373 or-or me protecting my niece. You know what I mean? 675 00:35:58,417 --> 00:36:02,421 That's all that mattered to me. 676 00:36:02,464 --> 00:36:05,641 And I was estranged from the family. 677 00:36:05,685 --> 00:36:08,775 They felt like I was tarnishing the family's name. 678 00:36:08,818 --> 00:36:10,777 Tarnishing the family name? No. 679 00:36:10,820 --> 00:36:12,866 Robert tarnished the family's name 680 00:36:12,909 --> 00:36:17,218 by putting our niece, your daughter, out there like that. 681 00:36:17,262 --> 00:36:19,960 He set out to destroy that family. 682 00:36:20,003 --> 00:36:21,918 That's what I believe, in my heart. 683 00:36:21,962 --> 00:36:24,443 I believe he tried to divide 684 00:36:24,486 --> 00:36:28,316 that family with his poor behavior. 685 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:32,973 Sparkle is my friend, she is my son's godmother. 686 00:36:33,016 --> 00:36:36,629 She has been and is like a mother to me. 687 00:36:36,672 --> 00:36:39,458 I have always been her little girl, 688 00:36:39,501 --> 00:36:43,636 and I will always be her little girl. 689 00:36:46,204 --> 00:36:50,295 And I watched my friend give up her career to save her family. 690 00:36:50,338 --> 00:36:52,122 Robert knows what he did. 691 00:36:52,166 --> 00:36:53,950 He's not confused about what he did. 692 00:36:55,691 --> 00:36:58,172 Once I came out publicly, 693 00:36:58,216 --> 00:37:00,566 yeah, there was a lot of blowback. 694 00:37:00,609 --> 00:37:04,831 People were unbelieving, people thought I was hating. 695 00:37:04,874 --> 00:37:07,225 People thought I was jealous. 696 00:37:07,268 --> 00:37:10,532 People were still able to dismiss Sparkle 697 00:37:10,576 --> 00:37:13,405 because they felt like she's just trying to get money. 698 00:37:13,448 --> 00:37:15,058 What happened to Sparkle is like, 699 00:37:15,102 --> 00:37:17,670 "You are messing with the money, 700 00:37:17,713 --> 00:37:21,935 "you are in violation, you are talking out of turn, 701 00:37:21,978 --> 00:37:24,329 and now we're gonna shut you down." 702 00:37:24,372 --> 00:37:28,463 It run the gamut of loaded and unloaded [bleep] 703 00:37:28,507 --> 00:37:31,336 that people were saying about me, to me, 704 00:37:31,379 --> 00:37:34,382 to-- about my family, you know, about my niece. 705 00:37:34,426 --> 00:37:37,385 Her being a little fast girl, like, come on. 706 00:37:37,429 --> 00:37:39,082 She's 14 years old. 707 00:37:39,126 --> 00:37:42,738 The adult is supposed to know not to touch that. 708 00:37:42,782 --> 00:37:47,090 GENGLER: I just remember being completely blown away, 709 00:37:47,134 --> 00:37:51,791 and for this to be happening not only with a high-profile person 710 00:37:51,834 --> 00:37:54,228 that you look up to and admire, 711 00:37:54,272 --> 00:37:57,057 but also somebody that you were very close with, 712 00:37:57,100 --> 00:37:58,928 and at the time, thought everything was fine. 713 00:37:58,972 --> 00:38:01,670 I felt really upset because at the same time, 714 00:38:01,714 --> 00:38:03,716 I'm like, "Well, why wasn't I there for her? 715 00:38:03,759 --> 00:38:06,196 How did I not know? How could I have been there for her?" 716 00:38:06,240 --> 00:38:09,069 Thinking all these things that I could've done. 717 00:38:09,112 --> 00:38:10,853 [film projector clicking] 718 00:38:10,897 --> 00:38:12,594 JOVANTE: He has no moral clock. 719 00:38:12,638 --> 00:38:15,336 And I can only imagine what 720 00:38:15,380 --> 00:38:20,298 his wife and his children have endured and did endure. 721 00:38:20,341 --> 00:38:22,996 I can only imagine. I know what I'veseen. 722 00:38:23,039 --> 00:38:25,346 I can only imagine. 723 00:38:25,390 --> 00:38:27,957 I can only imagine. 724 00:38:28,001 --> 00:38:29,959 -ED GORDON: You also have a family. -Yeah. 725 00:38:30,003 --> 00:38:32,527 How are they dealing with this? You have two children. 726 00:38:32,571 --> 00:38:34,834 Well, my wife is totally behind me, because she knows the truth, 727 00:38:34,877 --> 00:38:36,923 and-and she's in my corner. 728 00:38:39,229 --> 00:38:42,058 ANDREA: He put me on the bus in the middle of the night, 729 00:38:42,102 --> 00:38:45,497 did not tell me why we're going, 730 00:38:45,540 --> 00:38:46,715 what we're going for. 731 00:38:46,759 --> 00:38:48,413 He shipped me off to Florida, 732 00:38:48,456 --> 00:38:50,502 and I'm just staying in this house. 733 00:38:50,545 --> 00:38:52,721 I don't know what's going on, I got security at the door, 734 00:38:52,765 --> 00:38:54,419 nobody's telling me anything, like, 735 00:38:54,462 --> 00:38:56,377 "Why are we here, why did we leave Illinois?" 736 00:38:56,421 --> 00:38:58,727 I'm pregnant, I'm supposed to be going to the doctor, 737 00:38:58,771 --> 00:39:00,468 at least once a week at this point. 738 00:39:00,512 --> 00:39:02,557 I should not be traveling. "What is going on?" 739 00:39:02,601 --> 00:39:05,517 No one would tell me anything. 740 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:07,127 I was just broken. 741 00:39:16,963 --> 00:39:19,182 CRAIG: Behind the scenes, 742 00:39:19,226 --> 00:39:21,533 the allegations had come. 743 00:39:21,576 --> 00:39:23,709 It was known this tape was there, prior. 744 00:39:23,752 --> 00:39:25,885 It was obviously buried 745 00:39:25,928 --> 00:39:28,844 so that the rest of the world didn't know about it, 746 00:39:28,888 --> 00:39:31,412 until this tape and those allegations popped up. 747 00:39:34,720 --> 00:39:38,419 He put me on the bus in the middle of the night, 748 00:39:38,463 --> 00:39:41,466 did not tell me why we're going, what we're going for. 749 00:39:41,509 --> 00:39:43,206 He shipped me off to Florida, 750 00:39:43,250 --> 00:39:45,121 and I'm just staying in this house. 751 00:39:45,165 --> 00:39:47,036 I don't know what's going on, I got security at the door, 752 00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:49,038 nobody's telling me anything, like, 753 00:39:49,082 --> 00:39:51,563 "Why are we here, why did we lee Illinois?" I'm pregnant. 754 00:39:56,089 --> 00:39:57,351 I'm supposed to be going to the doctor, 755 00:39:57,395 --> 00:39:59,005 at least once a week at this point. 756 00:39:59,048 --> 00:40:01,050 I should not be traveling. "What is going on?" 757 00:40:01,094 --> 00:40:03,705 No one would tell me anything. 758 00:40:03,749 --> 00:40:09,407 I was under so much stress that when I went to the ob-gyn, 759 00:40:09,450 --> 00:40:12,497 they couldn't find his heartbeat. 760 00:40:12,540 --> 00:40:15,108 And I remember getting to the emergency room 761 00:40:15,151 --> 00:40:16,544 and my best friend Angie was with me 762 00:40:16,588 --> 00:40:18,416 and I just remember coming through the door 763 00:40:18,459 --> 00:40:20,592 and they had papers and signing and people were grabbing me 764 00:40:20,635 --> 00:40:23,072 and putting stuff in my arm and I'm like, "Wait, wait, 765 00:40:23,116 --> 00:40:25,074 wait, wait," like, "what are you guys doing?" 766 00:40:25,118 --> 00:40:27,990 And they're like, "We have to induce your labor right away, 767 00:40:28,034 --> 00:40:30,210 because we don't know if the baby's gonna make it." 768 00:40:33,648 --> 00:40:38,174 I just remember them laying me on the bed, 769 00:40:38,218 --> 00:40:39,959 and they were like, "We're gonna give you Pitocin, 770 00:40:40,002 --> 00:40:43,832 we're gonna get this going. Come on, Mom." 771 00:40:43,876 --> 00:40:45,965 And I went through the labor, and I just remember 772 00:40:46,008 --> 00:40:47,619 falling so in love with Little Rob 773 00:40:47,662 --> 00:40:51,318 because he came here so strong, 774 00:40:51,361 --> 00:40:53,494 but I was in that much stress 775 00:40:53,538 --> 00:40:57,672 that it put my unborn child's life in jeopardy. 776 00:40:57,716 --> 00:41:01,328 'Cause here I am, by myself in Florida. 777 00:41:01,371 --> 00:41:06,333 I don't know anybody, I just have my best friend. 778 00:41:06,376 --> 00:41:09,641 And they eventually, again, had to go through ten people 779 00:41:09,684 --> 00:41:12,861 to get him on the phone. [sniffles] 780 00:41:12,905 --> 00:41:16,038 "Mr. Kelly, do you know that they induced your wife's labor? 781 00:41:16,082 --> 00:41:18,432 Like, she just had Little Rob." 782 00:41:18,476 --> 00:41:20,608 [sniffles] He said he was coming back. 783 00:41:20,652 --> 00:41:24,656 But again, I don't know where he is. 784 00:41:24,699 --> 00:41:27,223 And I remember after having him, that's when that day happened. 785 00:41:27,267 --> 00:41:29,922 MAN: Mr. Kelly has been indicted. 786 00:41:29,965 --> 00:41:32,098 There's been a warrant issued for his arrest, 787 00:41:32,141 --> 00:41:34,143 and the Chicago Police Department is currently seeking 788 00:41:34,187 --> 00:41:36,189 to arrest Mr. Kelly. 789 00:41:36,232 --> 00:41:38,539 RICHARD DEVINE: We charge that the acts took place 790 00:41:38,583 --> 00:41:40,454 in Kelly's home in Chicago. 791 00:41:40,498 --> 00:41:43,283 These indictments, hopefully, will send a message 792 00:41:43,326 --> 00:41:47,243 to sexual predators that taking advantage of minors 793 00:41:47,287 --> 00:41:51,204 will not be tolerated and that there are severe penalties. 794 00:41:51,247 --> 00:41:53,206 I'm sitting here with the baby, and then it 795 00:41:53,249 --> 00:41:55,338 comes across the screen, they're like, 796 00:41:55,382 --> 00:41:57,863 "R&B singer R. Kelly has been arrested 797 00:41:57,906 --> 00:42:00,343 on child pornography," and I just remember 798 00:42:00,387 --> 00:42:03,346 my best friend was with me... and she said 799 00:42:03,390 --> 00:42:05,871 she don't know what happened, but my body went limp, 800 00:42:05,914 --> 00:42:09,701 and she said she caught Little Rob before he hit the floor. 801 00:42:09,744 --> 00:42:14,488 And I remember, like, a buzzing sound. 802 00:42:14,532 --> 00:42:16,708 It almost felt like I couldn't hear. 803 00:42:16,751 --> 00:42:18,536 And I saw the screen, 804 00:42:18,579 --> 00:42:21,190 and they showed his name and the police, and... 805 00:42:21,234 --> 00:42:26,065 I just, I don't even remember a lot after that. 806 00:42:26,108 --> 00:42:28,937 REPORTER: What about the child porn charges? 807 00:42:28,981 --> 00:42:31,244 [women shouting] 808 00:42:45,780 --> 00:42:49,262 CHANEY: The police found media of R. Kelly 809 00:42:49,305 --> 00:42:51,090 with plenty of other young girls 810 00:42:51,133 --> 00:42:52,700 that appeared to be underage. 811 00:42:52,744 --> 00:42:54,615 NEWSWOMAN: Kelly is accused of videotaping himself 812 00:42:54,659 --> 00:42:56,443 having sex with an underage girl. 813 00:42:56,486 --> 00:42:59,794 Y'all need to leave him alone. That's not R. Kelly. 814 00:42:59,838 --> 00:43:02,014 Women lined up to show support for R. Kelly. 815 00:43:02,057 --> 00:43:03,276 I love me some R. Kelly. 816 00:43:03,319 --> 00:43:04,669 JERHONDA: I went to his trial 817 00:43:04,712 --> 00:43:06,584 because I was a superfan at the time. 818 00:43:06,627 --> 00:43:09,456 NORCOTT: At the courthouse, his eyes were always fixated 819 00:43:09,499 --> 00:43:11,632 on the young girls. 820 00:43:11,676 --> 00:43:14,287 Do you like teenage girls? 821 00:43:14,330 --> 00:43:16,463 He invited me back to his mansion in Olympia Fields. 822 00:43:16,506 --> 00:43:17,856 You know what you did. 823 00:43:17,899 --> 00:43:20,119 And he told me to bring a bathing suit. 824 00:43:20,162 --> 00:43:22,295 You know the turmoil you brought into my kids' life... 825 00:43:22,338 --> 00:43:24,210 I was 14 years old. 826 00:43:24,253 --> 00:43:27,039 ...and for that, you can go to hell. 827 00:43:27,082 --> 00:43:28,301 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS