Despite mountains of evidence against the disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly, his three sisters are standing by him and claiming that racism influenced his 30-year prison sentence on sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
The timeline for R. Kelly’s conviction was not long once he went to trial. In September, Kelly was convicted on one charge of racketeering and eight counts of violation of the Mann Act, a federal sex-trafficking law that criminalizes “the transportation of ‘any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.’” In June, the singer was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Although Kelly and his attorneys plan to appeal the conviction, he’s currently sitting in a Chicago federal jail awaiting his trial on child pornography and obstruction of justice charges.
Despite all that’s happened, Kelly’s three sisters, Cassandra, Theresa and Lisa are standing by their brother’s side and claiming that he is the victim in this situation.
In an interview with Good Morning Britain that aired on Wednesday, the sisters spoke about African Americans being treated unfairly and claimed some of the victims are “bitter.”
Cassandra Kelly said, “African Americans have always been treated unfairly. And so I think that has a lot to do with [R. Kelly’s sentence], as well as other factors.”
When asked if they believe their brother has slept with underage girls, Lisa Kelly answered, “I can say he may have been with younger women, but as far as underage girls, no—and I stress underage girls. Who has seen that? I believe a lot of the alleged victims are bitter.”
When asked to “acknowledge the victims,” Lisa said, “I’m not going to acknowledge something I don’t have proof of.”
The staunch defense of Kelly continued from Lisa when she said, “He is not a monster, he is not a pedophile. The only victim I’ve seen that’s been stolen from, lied on, is Robert.”
The sisters revealed that R. Kelly has been sending letters from his prison cell, imploring his sisters that he was convicted because he was Black.
When asked if R. Kelly regrets anything in the aftermath of his conviction and sentencing, Cassandra said, “He’ll be like, ‘forgive them.’”
Despite all that, it won’t change that R. Kelly will most likely be spending at least the next 30 years in prison and based on how the federal trial in Chicago goes, it might be longer.