Thursday, March 28, 2024

Gayle King Reacts to R. Kelly’s Latest Arrest: ‘It’s a Brand New Ballgame’

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*R. Kelly’s recent arrest comes as no shock to veteran journalist Gayle King, who has a memorable sit-down with the embattled singer back in March.

The Grammy Award winning artist was arrested Thursday for charges related to separate federal indictments in Illinois and New York for multiple sex crimes, including child porn, sex-trafficking, racketeering and crossing state lines for sex with underage girls.

“The indictments are not a surprise to me. We’ve been hearing that they are coming for quite some time,” King tells Entertainment Tonight.  “… He always, always, always insists that he’s innocent of all the charges. But now these are very serious charges coming from federal officials. I think that it’s a brand new ballgame. So we will see what happens.”  

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“We all want to know, ‘How is it going to play out?'” King says. “I’ve talked to R. Kelly’s representative since he was arrested and they are still very convinced that he will be fine and that he will be proven innocent once again. They told me they’re very confident about that. So we shall see.”

During her emotionally charged interview with R. Kelly for “CBS This Morning,” the R&B icon vehemently denied sexual abuse claims. “Y’all trying to kill me,” Kelly shouted into the camera. King believes his reaction was due to “the stress” of the investigation that was launched in the wake of the “Surviving R. Kelly” docuseries, in which multiple women allege they were abused by the singer.

“I’ve always believed that part of the reason for his outburst, meltdown, whatever you want to call it… he’s been aware of this investigation and I think the stress of that certainly I think has to… mess with you,” King says. “And I think that might’ve been part of the out[burst].”

“… My interview with R. Kelly just added to the conversation because you got to see him respond to that documentary for the first time,” she adds. “We have heard these charges and these stories about R. Kelly for years. For years! But I think many people just gave him a pass because we liked his music so much and he had been to trial and he had been acquitted in the trial and so you think, ‘OK. He did go to court and he was acquitted.’ But now these are different days and different times and we’re hearing things with different ears.”

Kelly appeared in federal court Tuesday in Chicago where he entered a not-guilty plea for a slew of sex assault charges. He was ordered held without bond because prosecutors believe he is a “danger to the community.”

“The defendant can entice girls to his own doorstep, he doesn’t have to leave his home to do that,” one told the judge.

If found guilty he could receive a minimum of 15 years behind bars and a maximum sentence of 195 years in for the Chicago charges alone, per Variety.

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