R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison

A jury convicted the R&B superstar last September of racketeering and sex trafficking that spanned two decades. Prosecutors said he sexually abused women and girls and used his entourage to control them. U.S. District Court Judge Ann Donnelly imposed the sentence, which includes a $100,000 fine. Kelly’s attorneys had requested a sentence of 10 years, considering that he himself suffered extreme and ongoing sexual abuse as a child.

What does this mean? The sentence delivers a major victory to the women who say Kelly abused them. Public outrage over Kelly’s abuse revived after the start of the #MeToo movement. The 2019 documentary Surviving R. Kelly also stoked the flames of that outrage.

Dig deeper: Read Lynde Langdon’s report in Muse about the response to Surviving R. Kelly.