R. Kelly has been rushed to the hospital after he reportedly overdosed in prison.
R. Kelly has been rushed to the hospital. Credit: Cook County Sheriff’s Office via Getty Images
According to a court filing from his attorney, Beau B. Brindley, the 57-year-old singer - born Robert Kelly - was rushed to Duke University Hospital last week after allegedly overdosing on medication administered by prison staff, per TMZ.
The emergency reportedly began on June 12, when a solitary confinement employee instructed Kelly to take extra doses of medication.
By the next morning, the Grammy winner-turned-convicted felon was feeling unwell and had to be hospitalized.
During his two-day hospital stay, Kelly says he was informed that the amount of medication he had been given could have been fatal.
But things didn’t end with his hospital admission.
The filing claims that Kelly was overdosed by prison staff. Credit: Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images
The court filing claims that prison officials took Kelly off necessary blood thinner medication and are now refusing to allow him to undergo a doctor-recommended surgery to clear blood clots in his legs and lungs.
And in a dramatic twist, Kelly's lawyer alleges he was "forcibly" removed from Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, against medical advice.
The government isn’t buying it. Prosecutors immediately filed a fiery response, accusing Kelly of manipulating the court: “This is the behavior of an abuser and a master manipulator on display.”
They also slammed him for trying to sway a court that “has no jurisdiction over his case,” and mocked his tactics: “He is ‘cold’ in prison, and [wants] to criticize the medical care that he is receiving” in order to turn his situation “into a grocery store checkout aisle tabloid.”
As if that weren’t enough, this filing follows another shocking allegation: a supposed murder-for-hire plot targeting Kelly in prison.
His legal team submitted a sworn statement from Mikeal Glenn Stine, an Aryan Brotherhood gang leader, who claims he was offered early release in exchange for killing Kelly.
According to the document, Stine initially agreed - but later backed out and warned Kelly. Kelly now says another Aryan Brotherhood member has been tapped to kill both him and Stine.
R. Kelly is currently serving a 30-year sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking, stemming from a 2021 conviction that ended years of accusations involving underage girls and coercion.
R. Kelly's lawyer claims that prison staff are to blame. Credit: Antonio Perez - Pool / Getty Images.
For decades, the artist had dodged accountability despite mounting allegations involving young women and underage children.
A jury of seven men and five women ultimately found him guilty, with the prosecution arguing that his team of managers and aides who enabled and concealed his abuse essentially formed a criminal enterprise.
Despite a last-ditch attempt by Kelly's legal team to get a retrial - arguing his previous defense was ineffective and that the prosecution "misused" the racketeering charge - a judge shut the motion down.