R. Kelly Pleads Not Guilty as Lawyer Says He'll Turn Over Second Alleged Sex Tape of Singer
R. Kelly is continuing to deny the allegations against him.
On Monday morning, the R&B singer’s attorney, Steven Greenberg, pleaded not guilty on Kelly’s behalf, reported the Associated Press. Kelly faces 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse.
Kelly appeared in court on Monday, after spending the weekend in Cook County jail, as he failed to post the $100,000 payment necessary for him to make bail, according to CNN, who also reported that the singer appeared in court in an orange jumpsuit.
In a court appearance on Saturday, a judge ordered that Kelly — who surrendered to police on Friday night — be held on a $1 million bond.
The judge — who called the allegations against Kelly “disturbing” — explained the amount, saying the sum represents $250,000 for each of Kelly’s alleged four victims, the Associated Press previously reported.
On Saturday, the singer’s attorney also denied the allegations made against Kelly, telling reporters, “He is a rock star. He doesn’t have to have nonconsensual sex,” according to the AP.
BREAKING: Attorney pleads not guilty on behalf of R&B singer R. Kelly, who faces 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse.
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 25, 2019
RELATED: Lawyer Tweets Screenshots from Alleged R. Kelly Sex Tape, Says It ‘Leaves No Question’ He’s Guilty
On Monday, lawyer Michael Avenatti, who previously claimed earlier this month to have turned over a tape allegedly showing Kelly having sex with an underage girl, said he will be turning over a second alleged sex tape to prosecutors.
“I can confirm that we will be providing a second video showing R. Kelly engaged in sexual assault of a minor to prosecutors this morning. This tape was recently uncovered in connection with our ongoing nationwide investigation on behalf of victims. Justice must be done,” he tweeted.
I can confirm that we will be providing a second video showing R. Kelly engaged in sexual assault of a minor to prosecutors this morning. This tape was recently uncovered in connection with our ongoing nationwide investigation on behalf of victims. Justice must be done.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) February 25, 2019
Avenatti, 48, who is currently representing six clients — two alleged victims, two parents and two “whistleblowers” — in the investigation against Kelly shared screenshots from the alleged sex tape on his Twitter account and addressed them further during a press conference held on Friday.
In the tape that Avenatti had recently brought to prosecutors, Avenatti claimed that both the victim and Kelly repeatedly “refer to the victim’s age as 14” in excess of 10 separate times.
“Repeatedly on the video, the young lady refers to Mr. Kelly as ‘daddy,’” he continued during the press conference. “The video depicts Mr. Kelly engaged in oral sex with the young victim, both receiving as well as giving, as well as vaginal intercourse and anal penetration. There are also instances of Mr. Kelly urinating on the young girl on the videotape.”
The actions reportedly featured in the tape echo that of a similar act featured in a sex tape allegedly showing Kelly and another underage girl that led to his 2002 arrest on child pornography charges. Both Kelly and the girl denied they were the ones depicted in the video, and Kelly was not charged with assault. Six years later, a Cook County jury found Kelly not guilty on all 14 child pornography counts.
At a press conference in Chicago on Friday, the Cook County State’s Attorney revealed the charges against Kelly. All of his alleged victims were referred to only by their initials, and three were specifically referred to as under the age of 17.
For the fourth alleged victim, whose age was not specified, the grand jury found one count of aggravated sexual abuse “based on the transmission of semen by Robert Kelly upon any part of the body of the [alleged] victim for the purpose of sexual gratification.”
The incidents all allegedly occurred between May 1998 and January 2010.
Kelly’s alleged behavior came to the media forefront again in July 2017, when BuzzFeed published a bombshell report accusing the star of running a “sex cult” out of his Chicago and Atlanta-area homes.
The star was reported to have seduced a number of young women with the promise of helping them kickstart a music career, only to “groom” them into being his personal sex objects for whom he allegedly controlled every aspect of their lives.
Kelly has repeatedly denied all claims against him, though a renewed interest in the allegations emerged earlier this year with the release of the Lifetime documentary series Surviving R. Kelly.
RELATED: R. Kelly Surrenders to Chicago Police Following Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse Charges
“We are proud that Lifetime was able to provide a platform for survivors to be heard,” producers of the documentary told PEOPLE Friday in a statement.
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