Incarcerated American crooner R. Kelly has revealed that a lot of details in his legal cases escaped him because he cannot read beyond the ability of an average “grade schooler”.
The singer made the revelations as he claimed that he was oblivious to an August 2023 ruling in which six women were awarded $10,5 million over alleged threats that led to a cancelled screening of the docuseries Surviving R Kelly.
Kelly is currently serving 30 years in prison following a conviction of racketeering and sex crimes.
In his filing, the singer said he would have pushed back against the lawsuit if he knew what it entailed but could not as he relied on his lawyers.
“I wouldn’t be able to understand them,” he said in his filing. I would not have been able to understand the lawsuit or distinguish it from the many other legal documents that I received.
“It all looks the same to me. I rely on my lawyers to explain things to me because I cannot read or understand words beyond that of a grade-schooler.”
R. Kelly and Donnell Russell, his manager at the time, were accused of making repeated threats in order to silence the six women who appeared in the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries.
Kelly and Russell also threatened to take legal action against the women and producers of the docuseries.
The lawsuit alleges a Dec. 2018 screening in New York City was shut down after someone on Kelly’s team threatened to “shoot up” the venue.