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[Annie]

YouTube pulls two R. Kelly channels after sex-trafficking conviction

Kelly's songs and albums will continue to be available on the YouTube Music platform, however.

YouTube pulled two channels linked to R. Kelly after he was found guilty on all counts in a federal sex-trafficking trial last week, the company said.

However, Kelly's songs and albums will continue to be available on the YouTube Music service, and user-generated content incorporating Kelly's music is still allowed on the main platform.

YouTube terminated the channels tied to Kelly in accordance with its creator responsibility guidelines. The guidelines state that if channel owners are accused of very egregious crimes, the platform can terminate their channels if the content is closely related to the crimes and the channel owners were convicted or pleaded guilty.

Kelly, who has vehemently and repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, was found guilty of being the orchestrator of a long-running scheme to recruit women and underage girls for sex.

YouTube cited the fact that the prosecution against Kelly, 54, a Grammy-winning R&B singer, was based on the allegation that he leveraged his celebrity and power in the music industry to sexually abuse women and young girls.

Kelly will no longer be able to use, own or create any other YouTube channels, the platform decided. The service will delete a new channel if it is used to re-upload content from a previously terminated account.

Kelly's music is accessible on YouTube's major competitors, including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.

After last week's verdict, some on social media redoubled their efforts to push the major music streaming services to pull Kelly's discography, arguing in part that it was wrong to provide a global platform — and possible royalty revenues — to a convicted serial sexual predator.

Spotify, Apple and Amazon did not respond to questions about what they planned to do with Kelly's music library and what criteria they might consider for removing the entirety of an artist's work.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/music/youtube-pulls-two-r-kelly-channels-after-sex-trafficking-conviction-n1280872

[Annie]

[DopeSoul.]

His legacy is so down the crapper

[Annie]

When you enter his name in search you only get some tv performances and a lot of mess about the allegations

[Annie]

Don't worry Berts ignition is still available. It's a new version 

[opha lipa]

i have no sympathy for r. kelly whatsoever

but for some reason i'm not fuckin wit this 

[Dr Naomi Campbell]

 

[Annie]

His discography is still available on YouTube music. It's just that the music videos are gone. But yeah it's always a debate whether these platforms should or should not in a way censor. It makes sense tho for YouTube to take action because problematic influencers/content creators were also demonetized when they were accused of SA or other toxic behavior. So why can Bert make money if he is literally convicted? Accounts from smaller YouTubers pay consequences all the time. 

[Cartierline]

i have no sympathy for r. kelly whatsoever

but for some reason i'm not fuckin wit this 

Yeah idk I'm feeling some kinda way

[Vonc2002]

Yea I dont like this. Luckily I have all his albums and everything but his music being available should not every be a thing that's in question. Just like we can find Jerry lewis, Elvis Presley and any of these nasty white ass pedophiles, we should be able to find bert 

[lil jon x eastside boyz]

I do feel some type ah way as well

But then again I also feel some type ah way listening to him sing "seems like ya reddd-ayyyy" knowing he probably had some toddler in mind while he was cooing those lyrics

And that "age ain't nuttin but a number" album cover with him perched in the background looking at GODliyah is eerie af now and kinda disturbing

With all that considered, I can understand and even support his tea being removed . If GODliyah wasn't attached to that Age ain't nuttin but a number mess I would say that shoulda been the first thing to go.

What a disgustingly creepy and chilling summation/symbol of all of his predatory behavior. Talk about hiding in plain sight

[DopeSoul.]

Kiiii

[FAMÈ]

I don't get the point 

[Dr Naomi Campbell]

Well he used his music, status and career as a weapon and profitted of it so he could continue to abuse girls and women, it was the source that funded his depraved sexual gratification
so it makes sense IMO, it's not like he hasn't earnt money from his music over the decades, it's just that he and his label/team won't be able to profit of it anymore.

[Dr Naomi Campbell]

Like I do get when people say seperate art from the music, but Rkelly is known for his love/sex music and considering the serious and longestivity of his crimes...ew
I don't see how people can be comfortably jamming to  bump n grind and whatever else imo