R. Kelly Will Keep His Grammy Awards Despite Recent Convictions, Recording Academy CEO Says

R. Kelly Will Keep His Grammy Awards Despite Recent Convictions, Recording Academy CEO Says

According to the Academy, R. Kelly is still a winner. 

Back in September of this year, R. Kelly, 54, was convicted on all counts of racketeering and sex trafficking charges. However, despite the convictions, Recording Academy CEO, Harvey Mason Jr. says, for now, the singer will keep his awards. 

R. Kelly

On rescinding the awards, Harvey Mason Jr. said, 

“I think it’s something that we’re going to need to take a good hard look at, have a lot of conversations about, work through and make a decision.” 

Harvey Mason Jr.

He continued, 

“But right now, I think it’s something that is going to take a little bit more consideration before we can really dictate or decide. My initial feeling is we’re probably not a business that we want to be in of taking people’s awards back after they’ve been given. But we’ll take a good look at it and see.”

In 1997, the Chicago-born songwriter won Best R&B Song, Best Song Written for Visual Media, and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his song ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ from the ‘Space Jam‘ soundtrack. 

According to the Academy, pop duo Milli Vanilli, who admitted to lip-syncing on the album ‘Girl You Know It’s True,’ is the only artist to have an award revoked.

Although the Academy will allow R.Kelly to maintain his awards, elsewhere others like, YouTube did not feel the same. Following Kelly’s conviction, the streaming platform terminated all his channels and accounts.

YouTube’s head of legal, Nicole Alston said, 

“Egregious actions committed by R. Kelly warrant penalties beyond standard enforcement measures due to a potential to cause widespread harm. Ultimately we are taking this action to protect our users similar to other platforms.”

Do you agree with the Academy’s decision? Share your thoughts in the comments. 

[VIA]