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R. Kelly was convicted by a federal jury in
September in his sex trafficking trial, where prosecutors
accused the singer of exploiting his stardom over a
quarter-century to lure women and underage girls into his orbit
for sex.
Two of his channels, RKellyTV and RKellyVevo, have been removed
from one of the world's largest video platforms and the singer
will no longer be able to create or own any other YouTube
channel, YouTube said in a statement sent late on Monday,
following Reuters' request for comment.
The catalog of his music will however be available on YouTube
Music, YouTube's audio-streaming service, and the videos
uploaded by other YouTube users will continue to be available.
"We can confirm that we have terminated two channels linked to
R. Kelly in accordance with our creator responsibility
guidelines," a YouTube spokesperson told Reuters in a statement.
The MuteRKelly campaign, founded by two Black women in 2017 to
try to remove the singer's music from the air waves, said on
Twitter
https://twitter.com/OffMuteRKelly/
status/
1445570932089626636, "Waiting on you @youtubemusic, and you too
@Spotify @AppleMusic @AmazonMusic, etc."
Contacted outside of regular U.S. business hours, Spotify, Apple
and Amazon did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters
seeking comment on whether they would be taking similar action
over R Kelly's music available on their platforms.
Kelly's music has largely disappeared from radio but is still
available on streaming platforms. His hit record "I Believe I
Can Fly" was for years a popular choice at graduation
ceremonies.
Kelly faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years behind bars, and
could face up to life in prison at his May 4, 2022, sentencing.
The singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is one of
the most prominent people tried on sex charges during the #MeToo
movement, which amplified accusations that had dogged him since
the early 2000s.
(Reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu and Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru;
Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
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