A Woman Testified R. Kelly Raped Her When She Was 17, Days After He’d Married Aaliyah

“I was in complete shock,” the woman told jurors as she recounted being taken to the singer’s dressing room for an autograph before he began sexually assaulting her. “I basically went blank.”

Another alleged R. Kelly victim took the stand at the singer’s trial in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday, testifying that he raped her after a concert in the mid-90s when she was just 17.

“I was in complete shock,” Addie told the court as she recounted being taken to the singer’s dressing room for an autograph before he began sexually assaulting her. “I basically went blank.”

Prosecutors have not charged Kelly with assaulting Addie but have instead sought the testimony of her and other alleged victims to illustrate a pattern of sexual assault by Kelly. He has denied all the charges.

Addie, who used only her first name in court for privacy reasons, told the jury she had attended a concert in Miami where several artists, including Aaliyah, were set to perform. Aaliyah, whom Addie had been most looking forward to seeing, did not ultimately perform, but Kelly did. The show was held Sept. 2, 1994 — just days after Kelly had secretly and illegally married 15-year-old Aaliyah.

Testifying in court, Addie spoke steadily and did not cry as she went public with her allegations for the first time.

Addie said she was not a fan of Kelly’s and had instead attended the Budweiser Superfest concert in Miami with a 19-year-old friend in order to watch Aaliyah perform.

When Kelly finished performing, Addie said the singer told the audience that any women over 18 who wanted an autograph were welcome to come backstage. Security guards approached her and her friend offering the chance to meet him but did not ask their ages.

When they entered Kelly’s dressing room, they found the singer speaking with reporters but no other audience members. Addie told Kelly she was an aspiring performer and he wrote down his hotel number for her and invited her to come “audition” for him. When she told him she was 17 and didn’t think she’d be allowed to his room, she said he whispered to an associate who escorted the media out so he, Addie, and her friend could be alone.

“He wanted to play a game [to see] who could kiss better,” Addie said. “He started kissing on my best friend … [and then] he started kissing on me.”

Feeling overwhelmed, Addie said she tried to pull away but was unable to.

“He started getting a little more aggressive … that’s when he started holding my wrists and unzipping my pants, pulling them down, and started having sexual intercourse with me,” she said.

Addie said that as Kelly raped her without using a condom, Kelly tried to include her friend but she refused.

When he finished, the two teenagers ran out of the dressing room. Addie said her friend wanted them to go to the police, but she decided against doing so, fearing she wouldn’t be believed and might be “blacklisted” from the entertainment industry.

As they have with other women who have testified against the singer, Kelly’s defense attorneys sought to question Addie’s motives and integrity.

“Someone raped you, according to you, and you kept the [concert] program as memorabilia?” defense attorney Deveraux Cannick asked Addie, who said she had done so.

Addie told Kelly’s lawyers she was coming forward now because she was no longer a “little girl.”

“I didn’t go to law enforcement because I didn’t want more victim shaming and more humiliation at that time,” she said.

Addie was followed on the witness stand on Monday by Louis, a 32-year-old man being identified by a pseudonym whose testimony also provided what prosecutors said was evidence of Kelly’s predatory pattern.

Louis told the jury that Kelly began sexually abusing him when he was 17 and interested in starting a career in music.

In a garage in the singer’s home, Louis said Kelly asked him what he “was willing to do for music” and asked him if he had any sexual fantasies or had ever thought about men sexually. Despite saying no, Louis said Kelly performed oral sex on him.

Louis said Kelly told him to “keep it between me and him. We [are] family now — we brothers.”

He described meeting Kelly in a garage on another occasion when the singer snapped his fingers and a young woman crawled out from underneath a boxing ring completely naked and began performing oral sex on Kelly. When the singer told her to do the same to Louis, she did so, Louis said.

He said he continued to have a sexual relationship with Kelly, who Louis said asked him to call him “daddy.” He added Kelly also filmed many of their sexual encounters, and at times instructed him to perform sexual acts with other people Kelly is accused of abusing.

“As our relationship got stronger…[he said] I was like his little brother,” Louis said.

In their final meeting, Louis said Kelly made him write a letter that falsely claimed the young man was being paid to say he was having a sexual relationship with Kelly. Kelly has previously been accused of making his victims write “collateral” letters as potential blackmail material in order to keep them quiet.

Louis pled guilty in February 2021 to bribery after he tried to convince another alleged victim of Kelly’s not to cooperate with the government’s investigation. However, she was already speaking with investigators and secretly recording her phone conversations with Louis.

He admitted in court on Monday that he did not have the large sum of money he offered the woman, and it is not publicly known where the cash would have come from, but Louis told the court that Kelly was not involved in the bribery scheme.

Though the bribery scheme had already been revealed, it was not known until Monday that one of the people charged in it was an alleged victim of Kelly’s.

Louis said that prior to his arrest he’d never told his story of being sexually abused by Kelly before — not even to his wife.

The trial continues.

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