Guess it's time for R. Kelly to solicit Trump for a pardon

There comes a time in every convicted sex trafficker's life to appeal to the president for a pardon.

By Matt Schimkowitz | June 12, 2025 | 7:08pm

Photo by Scott Olson (Getty Images)

Music News R Kelly

Guess it's time for R. Kelly to solicit Trump for a pardon

Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste

Read our announcement | See the 10 Best Games of 2025 (So Far)

R. Kelly’s legal team has begun making overtures to President Donald Trump, Variety reports, after the beleaguered and incarcerated R&B singer filed an emergency motion seeking home confinement earlier this week. Kelly is serving 30 years for racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which made moving people across state lines for prostitution a felony. In this case, he was found guilty of eight Mann Act violations, including one for transporting a minor. His lawyers believe President Trump might sympathize with his plight. Yesterday, Kelly’s lawyers argued, “Federal officers have solicited the murder of R. Kelly because he intends to expose the corruption underlying his federal prosecutions.” His lawyer, Beau Brindley, claims that Kelly has been in solitary confinement for three days and is refusing to eat because he believes his food might be poisoned. Brindley, who has spoken with Trump associates recently, also claims that “[Kelly] has spiders crawling all over him” as he sleeps.

It’s unclear if these overtures will reach the president, who last week was accused by his estranged best friend, Elon Musk, of being in the Epstein files. Musk later said he regretted some of his posts, but did not indicate which ones or why he would help elect someone he believes to be in league with a notorious child predator to the presidency. Nevertheless, Brindley thinks that Trump has “a personal, unique understanding of what it’s like to be victimized by prosecution teams and put through that experience through corrupt and criminal hacks.” We’ll see if Trump comes through. Many disgraced celebrities are trying to get his ear these days. Can he pardon them all? Sure, why not? What the hell does he care?