YouTube on Tuesday took down two channels linked to R. Kelly from its platform, a week after the R&B singer was found guilty by a federal jury of sex trafficking and racketeering in a trial where prosecutors accused the singer of using his stardom to lure women and underage girls into his orbit for sexual exploitation. Two of Kelly’s official YouTube channels, RKellyTV and RKellyVevo were removed from the video-sharing platform and the singer will no longer be allowed to create or own any other YouTube channel, Reuters reported.
The takedown of the channels is in accordance with YouTube’s creator responsibility guidelines which enables the platform to suspend a channel if its owner is accused of egregious crimes and their channels’ content is closely related to the crimes. Despite the suspension, content from other users incorporating Kelly’s music will still be allowed on YouTube and the singer’s songs and albums continue to be available on the platform’s paid streaming service, YouTube Music.
Forbes has reached out to YouTube’s parent company Google for comment. At the time of publishing, Kelly’s music is also available on all the major streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.
The #MuteRKelly campaign— a movement started by two black women in 2017 which has called on radio and streaming services to stop playing Kelly’s music—reacted to the decision by tweeting: “ Waiting on you @youtubemusic, and you too @Spotify @AppleMusic @AmazonMusic, etc.” Kenyette Tisha Barnes, one of the campaign’s founders, told NBC News that Youtube’s move was “the beginning of a seismic paradigm shift of R. Kelly’s legacy… It is my hope that other platforms follow suit and mute R. Kelly.”
Last week, the R&B singer was found guilty of eight counts of violating the Mann Act, or trafficking women across state lines for sex, and one count of racketeering for criminal conduct including the sexual exploitation of children and forced labor. Kelly, who faced trial in a New York federal court, had pleaded not guilty to all charges last year and has repeatedly denied all allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct. Sexual abuse allegations followed the award-winning singer and music producer for decades but formal charges were filed only after multiple women spoke out against Kelly in 2018 at the height of the Me Too movement and the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” was released in 2019.
Source: Forbes
