R. Kelly should be given a second chance, according to record producer Benzino.
The media personality is going viral for stating that he does not believe R. Kelly should have to "rot in jail for 30 years" over his child sexual abuse charges. In the new clip, he states that since it is "legal" in America, the disgraced musician should not be behind bars.
"Again, the legal age is 16 years old," Benzino insisted in a new episode of his We In Miami podcast, XXL reports. "Does that make it right if a [man] does it? Yes or no?"
His panel of co-hosts all respond that it is "wrong" and "disgusting" for a grown man to date a 16-year-old.
"Alright but it's legal in America," Benzino quipped back. "Why the f- is R. Kelly doing all this time? You know why because they're 14 and 13 - too years younger. But you don't think that the people who cleared it for 16-year-olds didn't know that they were f-ing with 13, 14-year-olds, too. For the age that young to be the law, you already know they goin' under that. I'm not condoning with little girls, it's sick. Alright, it's sick, but I don't think R. Kelly should rot in jail for 30 years either."
While the age of consent in America is 16-year-old in 31 U.S. states like Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, it is 18 in other states like California and Florida.
The singer is currently serving 30-years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking, including a charge for sexually abusing his 14-year-old goddaughter. He was sentenced in New York, where the legal age of consent is 17. Kelly was also found guilty of three child pornography-related counts in the state of Illinois, where the legal age is also 17.
The "I Believe I Can Fly" singer just faced yet another hardship in court just last week when his appeal to overturn his jail sentence was denied.
He contended that Illinois's former statute of limitations in child sex prosecutions, which allowed charges to be brought up until the victim reached the age of 25, should have applied to his Chicago case. However, during his 2022 trial, the charges were permitted throughout the life of the accuser. This was shut down by the Circuit of Appeals.
Earlier this year, R. Kelly railed against a $10.5 million lawsuit brought up by his victims, claiming that his manager, Donnell Russell, plotted a mass shooting threat surrounding the 2018 New York City premiere of the Surviving R. Kelly docu-series.
While the women won the case, the singer said that he would have defended himself in court if he had known about the lawsuit. They have yet to receive their payment, as it is unclear if R. Kelly will be the one paying up.
R. Kelly is currently residing at a medium-security prison facility in North Carolina. He will be released in 2045, when he is 78-years-old.
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