Celebrity
R. Kelly Prosecutors Want 25 More Years For The Singer
CHICAGO, Ill. — Federal prosecutors asked a judge on Thursday to sentence singer R. Kelly to an additional 25 years in prison for his child pornography and enticement convictions in Chicago last year, which would be in addition to the 30 years he has already served in a New York case.
If the judge agrees to the 25-year sentence and another government request that Kelly begins serving his Chicago sentence only after the 30-year New York sentence is completed, the 56-year-old would only be eligible for release once he was around 100.
Prosecutors described R. Kelly’s behavior as “sadistic,” calling him a “serial sexual predator” with no remorse who “poses a danger to society” in their sentencing recommendation, which was filed late Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
“The only way to ensure Kelly does not re-offend is to impose a sentence that will keep him in prison for the rest of his life,” the government says in a 37-page filing.
Kelly’s sentencing in Chicago is scheduled for next Thursday.
Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, stated in a filing last week that even with his current 30-year sentence in New York, “Kelly would have to defy all statistical odds to make it out of prison alive.” She stated that the average life expectancy of inmates is 64 years.
R. Kelly Prosecutors Want 10 Years
She proposed a sentence of around ten years, at the low end of the sentencing guidelines range, to be served concurrently with the New York sentence.
In arguing for a reduced sentence, Bonjean claimed that Kelly, who is Black, was singled out for behavior that white rock stars have gotten away with for decades.
“No one has been charged, and no one will die in prison,” she wrote.
Prosecutors admitted that a 25-year sentence in the Chicago case would be longer than even sentencing guidelines recommend. They argued, however, that imposing a long sentence and directing that it be served only after the New York sentence was appropriate.
“Given the egregiousness of R. Kelly’s conduct, a consecutive sentence is eminently reasonable,” the filing argued. “Kelly’s sexual abuse of minors was both intentional and widespread.”
Last year, jurors in Chicago convicted the Grammy Award-winning singer on six of thirteen counts. The government, however, missed the big picture when Kelly and his then-business manager successfully rigged his state child pornography trial in 2008.
Co-defendants Found Not Guilty
R. Kelly’s co-defendants, including longtime business manager Derrel McDavid, were found not guilty on all counts.
Kelly rose from poverty in Chicago to superstardom, best known for his smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and sex-infused songs like “Bump n’ Grind.”
While the Grammy Award-winner was tried in 2008, it wasn’t until the airing of Lifetime’s 2019 docu-series “Surviving R. Kelly,” which featured testimonies from his accusers, that criminal investigations were kicked into high gear, culminating in federal and new state charges.
On the recommendation of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, an Illinois judge dismissed state sex abuse charges before a trial in January. Foxx stated that she was comfortable dropping the case because Kelly would be imprisoned for decades for his federal convictions.
Prosecutors at Kelly’s federal trial in Chicago painted him as a master manipulator who used his celebrity and wealth to entice star-struck fans to sexually abuse, video record and discard them.
After two days of deliberation, jurors convicted Kelly on three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing minors for sex while acquitting him on obstruction of justice, one count of producing child porn, and three counts of receiving child porn.
Sentenced to 30 Years For Sex Trafficking
A federal judge in New York sentenced Kelly to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking months before the Chicago verdict. Based on that sentence alone, he won’t be eligible for release until he’s in his eighties.
According to the government’s Thursday filing, even if given time off for good behavior, Kelly would be eligible for release only if he served 25 years after his New York sentence in 2066.
It will be up to Judge Harry Leinenweber in Chicago to decide whether Kelly serves his sentence concurrently, simultaneously with the New York sentence, or consecutively.
R. Kelly’s legal team is appealing his convictions in New York and Chicago. Prosecutors will sometimes seek long sentences for defendants sentenced in earlier trials to ensure that even if some convictions are later overturned, they will still serve time in prison.
R. Kelly Is Troubled Human Says Friends Of The Singer
Bonjean argued that traumas in R. Kelly’s life, such as child abuse and illiteracy throughout adulthood, justified leniency in sentencing.
Kelly “is not an evil monster, but a complex (undeniably troubled) human being who faced overwhelming challenges as a child that shaped his adult life,” she said.
She stated that the conduct he was convicted of decades ago should also be considered.
“While Kelly was not a child in the late 1990s, he was also not the middle-aged man he was at the time of his indictment in 2019,” she contended. “In his late twenties, Kelly was a damaged man.”
She said that Kelly has already paid a high price for his legal problems, including a financial one. She claimed he was once worth $1 billion but is now “destitute.”
SOURCE – (AP)
Celebrity
Jason Kelce Smashes Football Fan’s Phone
Retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce destroyed a Penn State football fan’s phone after the alleged heckler called his brother, Travis Kelce, a fag.
In now-viral footage published on X (previously Twitter) on Saturday, Nov. 2, the retired Philadelphia Eagles great was seen accompanied by football fans outside Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., for the Penn State-Ohio State game.
As the individual capturing the tape lifted a fist to Jason, 36, and called his name for a fist bump, another man nearby hurled the homophobic slur at the retired Philadelphia Eagles star.
Hey, Kelce. How does it feel that your brother is a queer dating Taylor Swift?” the man questioned, referring to Travis, 34, who has been seeing Swift since 2023. Jason turned around seconds later, snatched the man’s phone, and crushed it to the ground.
“Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason,” the original X user who submitted the video remarked. “Wild scene in State College.”
“Kelce how does it feel that your brother is a f****t for dating Taylor Swift?”
Jason Kelce proceeded to slam this kids phone on the ground.
Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason. Wild scene in State College pic.twitter.com/3PEdZXWhSg
— Chives (@jarrett_daveler) November 2, 2024
Additional footage on X shows Jason smashing the phone on asphalt before picking it up and walking away. The phone’s owner, wearing a Penn State hoodie at the time of the incident, was shown in many videos strolling closely behind Jason and recording him before the conflict occurred.
Another footage published on X, which appears to have been filmed after Jason shattered the man’s phone, showed the hooded Penn State supporter trudging through a mob to pick up his phone off the ground.
“Give me my phone, bro,” he seemed to say to Jason.
The NFL alum seized the gadget first, then stood in front of the man and asked, “Who’s the fag now?” Others appeared to interfere.
The incident occurred while Jason was at Beaver Stadium for an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay. The Ohio State Buckeyes won Saturday’s game 20-13 over the Penn State Nittany Lions.
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Celebrity
Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
Shaun White, the Olympic snowboarding champion, already has an impressive medal tally, but his surprise proposal to Nina Dobrev deserves a gold medal.
On Wednesday, the couple announced their engagement on Instagram. Dobrev posted photographs of the two hugging under an arch of white roses and showing off her five-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring.
“RIP boyfriend, hello fiancé,” Dobrev said in the caption.
However, the photographs only tell half the tale, as Shaun devised an elaborate plan to surprise Dobrev with his proposal.
Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
According to a Vogue interview published Wednesday, Shaun said he assembled a team of people from the couple’s inner circle and Vogue personnel to trick Dobrev into thinking she had been invited to an intimate dinner party with Anna Wintour.
Dobrev accepted the invitation, joking that Shaun made it “look so legitimate.”
He even asked Dobrev’s stylist to outfit her in Chanel for the event.
Dobrev said she recognized what was happening when she entered the venue and saw White standing beneath the flowery arch.
Shaun’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
“I went into shock,” Dobrev admitted, later adding that White “said all the right things” before she agreed.
According to the publication, after Shaun proposed, the couple partied into the early morning hours with close friends and relatives.
“Best night of my life,” Shaun captioned his Instagram story on Wednesday.
The duo first became romantically involved in 2020, and they have since publicly recorded their relationship, globe vacations, and White’s Olympic farewell on social media.
SOURCE | CNN
Celebrity
Hollywood Actress Teri Garr Passes Away at 79
Hollywood actress Teri Garr, known for her roles in classics like “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has passed away at 79. She died Tuesday of multiple sclerosis “surrounded by family and friends,” said publicist Heidi Schaeffer.
Admirers took to social media in her honor, with writer-director Paul Feig calling her “truly one of my comedy heroes. I couldn’t have loved her more” and screenwriter Cinco Paul saying: “Never the star, but always shining. She made everything she was in better.”
Throughout her career, the performer, often known as Terri, Terry, or Terry Ann, seemed destined for show business from a young age.
Her father was Eddie Garr, a well-known vaudeville comic, and her mother was Phyllis Lind, one of the original high-kicking Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Their daughter began dancing classes at six and was performing with the San Francisco and Los Angeles ballet companies by age fourteen.
She was 16 years old when she joined the road crew of “West Side Story” in Los Angeles, and she began starring in small roles in films as early as 1963.
In an interview from 1988, she described how she landed the role in “West Side Story.” After being rejected at her initial audition, she returned the following day dressed differently and was accepted.
Teri Garr, a comedian
Teri Garr then found steady work as a movie dancer, appearing in the chorus of nine Elvis Presley films, including “Viva Las Vegas,” “Roustabout,” and “Clambake.”
She has also appeared on various television shows, including “Star Trek,” “Dr. Kildare,” and “Batman,” and was a featured dancer on the rock ‘n’ roll music show “Shindig,” the rock concert performance “T.A.M.I.,” and a cast member of “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.”
Her breakthrough role was as Gene Hackman’s girlfriend in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 thriller The Conversation. This led to an interview with Mel Brooks, who offered her the Gene Wilder’s German lab assistant role in Young Frankenstein if she could speak with a German accent.
“Cher had this German woman, Renata, making wigs, so I got the accent from her,” Garr once said.
The film established her as a great comic performer, with New Yorker film writer Pauline Kael calling her “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on screen.”
Her big smile and off-center appeal helped her land roles in “Oh, God!” with George Burns and John Denver, “Mr. Mom” (as Michael Keaton’s wife), and “Tootsie,” in which she played the girlfriend who loses Dustin Hoffman to Jessica Lange and discovers he has dressed up as a woman to revive his career.
A gift for spontaneous humor
Teri Garr, best known for comedy, has shown in films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Black Stallion, and The Escape Artist that she can also tackle drama.
She had a gift for spontaneous humor, frequently playing David Letterman’s foil during early guest appearances on N.B.C.’s “Late Night With David Letterman”.
Her appearances grew so frequent, and the pair’s good-natured bickering so convincing that rumors of romantic involvement circulated for a while. Years later, Letterman acknowledged those early appearances with helping the program become a success.
During those years, Garr began to experience “a little beeping or ticking” in her right leg. It started in 1983 and expanded to her right arm, but she thought she could handle it. By 1999, her symptoms had gotten so bad that she saw a doctor and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
After disclosing her diagnosis, Garr became a spokesman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, giving hilarious remarks at events in the United States and Canada.
Source: AP
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