Poll of the Day > #MeToo ALERT: R&B Singer R.Kelly gets 30 Years...

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/r-kelly-prison-sentence-sex-trafficking-children-192418508.html

The Prosecution wanted 20...

Do you think it was Too Much? (Poll Question)

I think it's not enough for what he did to those children and young adult women.

pionear posted...

The Prosecution wanted 20...

Do you think it was Too Much? (Poll Question)

Ghislaine Maxwell only got 20. Prosecution wanted 30-55.
So...I guess it was too much, based on the Ghislaine Maxwell standard?

How was he not in Jail sooner?

Why does RKelly get 30 and Maxweel only 20? I'm unfamiliar with the charges, did RKelly do 50% more traffickin?

I can't believe Maxwell only got 20 years.

Lokarin posted...

Why does RKelly get 30 and Maxweel only 20? I'm unfamiliar with the charges, did RKelly do 50% more traffickin?

R Kelly is black and male
Maxwell is white and female

There's long-standing knowledge of tremendous bias against the former and to the benefit of the latter when it comes to sentencing disparity.
Just rare to see two similar massive cases with the exact most disadvantaged and most advantaged groups' representatives sentenced around the same time, and to further highlight the injustice, in the black man's case the judge went harder than the prosecution called for and in the white woman's case, the judge went softer than even their minimum bound.

Did Maxwell get charged personally for the allegations she raped young girls too?

That's the big difference I see in these two cases re: sentencing. Maxwell was charged for a crime where she wasn't directly perpetrating sexual violence but instead of facilitating it. Kelly was charged with crimes where he personally committed the sex crimes.

But race and gender definitely are part of this too.

Jen0125 posted...

Did Maxwell get charged personally for the allegations she raped young girls too?

That's the big difference I see in these two cases re: sentencing. Maxwell was charged for a crime where she wasn't directly perpetrating sexual violence but instead of facilitating it. Kelly was charged with crimes where he personally committed the sex crimes.

But race and gender definitely are part of this too.

First of all, she was a human trafficker, and typically those get the book thrown at them even harder than the clients they service.
Second of all, yes she did get involved in the sexual assault herself.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/15/us/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-accusers/index.html

The case against Ghislaine Maxwell primarily relied on the testimony of four women who said they were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein when they were under 18 -- and that Maxwell facilitated and sometimes participated in that abuse, too.

Maxwell, 60, had pleaded not guilty to six federal charges: sex trafficking of minors, enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and three counts of conspiracy.

She was found guilty by a New York jury on five of the six counts and acquitted on the charge of enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts. Maxwell faces up to 65 years in prison.

Prosecutors had argued that Maxwell and Epstein created a system of sexual abuse in which they lured underage girls into sexual relationships with Epstein using the ruse of a massage and cash payments. Her defense, though, argued she is being scapegoated for Epstein's actions and has attacked the memories and motivations of the women who say they were abused.

Testimony from the victims beganon November 30 with "Jane," who said that Maxwell sometimes joined in on the sexualized massages. "Kate" testified December 6 that Maxwell set up those sexual meetings. Carolyn testified the next day that Maxwell once touched her breasts, hips and butt and told her she "had a great body for Epstein and his friends." She was 14 at the time, she said.

Finally, Farmer testified that she was 16 years old when Maxwell massaged her naked chest at Epstein's New Mexico ranch in 1996.

I didn't ask if she got involved in the sexual assault. I asked if she got charged with her involvement in the sexual assault.

This dude got caught boinking minors like twenty years ago why did it take so long for him to face any kind of justice

VampireCoyote posted...

This dude got caught boinking minors like twenty years ago why did it take so long for him to face any kind of justice

Because he was a celebrity with tons of money

according to teh CNN it's cuz he also obstructed justice... idk

his lawyers say he is illiterate

that shouldnt be funny, but it is

He gonna be the one getting peed on now

VampireCoyote posted...

his lawyers say he is illiterate

that shouldnt be funny, but it is

That's been known about him for awhile

pionear posted...

That's been known about him for awhile

yep

Zareth posted...

He gonna be the one getting peed on now

Chapelle's "Piss on You" sketch is almost 20 years old now.

I voted for the wrong option because I didn't pay much attention. Derp.

Anyway, I'd have given him even more years if it had been my decision.

grooming/trafficking isn't metoo

No way!

...he was a literal sex trafficker. This goes a lot further than a #MeToo.

Lokarin posted...

Why does RKelly get 30 and Maxweel only 20? I'm unfamiliar with the charges, did RKelly do 50% more traffickin?

R Kelley was the abuser on top of being the trafficker, G Maxwell was afaik just profiting from the abuse. That's more crime.

Krazy_Kirby posted...

grooming/trafficking isn't metoo

Count_Drachma posted...

...he was a literal sex trafficker. This goes a lot further than a #MeToo.

It's a matter of a serial sexual abuser exploiting his wealth and celebrity status to avoid facing accountability for his crimes, only being brought down because enough victims said "he abused me too" overcome the risk of him using that power to hurt them further. It's a particularly egregious case, certainly, but this is fundamentally what MeToo is all about.

adjl posted...

It's a matter of a serial sexual abuser exploiting his wealth and celebrity status to avoid facing accountability for his crimes, only being brought down because enough victims said "he abused me too" overcome the risk of him using that power to hurt them further. It's a particularly egregious case, certainly, but this is fundamentally what MeToo is all about.

Except it's not in either sense, since the #MeToo movement was built around smaller, generally non-criminal infractions. Not only does the shit surrounding R Kelly predate #MeToo by DECADES and people have spoken out very publicly against him for decades, but he had other trials. Many of his victims have been speaking out for years now. Both examples are vast criminal enterprises. In the case of the Epstein cartel, that's how he and his associates made their money.

Count_Drachma posted...

since the #MeToo movement was built around smaller, generally non-criminal infractions.

The primary catalyst for it was Weinstein, who has since been convicted of rape and sexual assault. The movement encompasses non-criminal infractions (though more commonly it's less that the infractions are non-criminal and more that the nature of the criminal infractions makes it all but impossible to get a conviction).

Count_Drachma posted...

Not only does the s*** surrounding R Kelly predate #MeToo by DECADES and people have spoken out very publicly against him for decades

Weinstein had similarly been a turbocreep for decades before his reckoning.

Again, this is a particularly egregious case, but that doesn't mean it ought to be excluded from MeToo. Frankly, it seems to me like you're trying to gatekeep MeToo to keep out the cases even you can't play Devil's Advocate for so that it's easier for you to be dismissive of the movement. I'm afraid that's not the way to reconcile your cognitive dissonance.

I wonder if Michael Jackson counts as Metoo.

^Well he was found Not Guilty in a Court of Law, but yea, he was still accused and arrested for it so Yup...

All it takes nowadays is an Accusation...and better hope like hell you can clear your name (in either the Legal Court and Public Court of Opinion)

pionear posted...

^Well he was found Not Guilty in a Court of Law, but yea, he was still accused and arrested for it so Yup...

All it takes nowadays is an Accusation...and better hope like hell you can clear your name (in either the Legal Court and Public Court of Opinion)

I meant more of the accusations that happened a few years ago.