R Kelly rushed to hospital after prison drug overdose as lawyer alleges murder plot
R Kelly's lawyers have confirmed that the singer has overdosed while in prison, and has been rushed to hospital.
A court filing claims that the disgraced R&B star had overdosed on medication given to him by prison staff on Thursday (June 12).
It states that the 'Ignition (Remix)' singer takes a normal dosage of anxiety and sleep medication, but on the day in question, attorneys claim prison staff provided him with an 'overdose quantity'.
The paper, which has been seen by USA Today, states that the rapper was removed with force from Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, despite doctors advising against his removal.
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The Bureau of Prisons told the publication that it will not comment on the situation due to 'pending litigation'.
"Federal officers have solicited the murder of R. Kelly because he intends to expose the corruption underlying his federal prosecutions. We have filed our motion to make sure that they fail," his attorney, Beau B Brindley, wrote in a statement to the outlet on Wednesday.
"The only thing that can protect Mr. Kelly behind the prison walls now is the fact that now the world is watching. And we will call on the courts and President Trump to help put an end to the corruption that now threatens Mr. Kelly's life."
In 2019, Kelly was arrested on charges of federal racketeering and sex trafficking.
The singer and record producer, 57, is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence for criminal offenses spanning decades. He also was sentenced to one additional year in jail in 2023 for pedophilia charges involving child pornography and enticement of a minor.
His own daughter spoke out about alleged abuse she suffered at her father's hands when she was just a child, in the documentary R. Kelly's Karma: A Daughter's Journey.
In the two-episode documentary, Kelly's daughter Buku Abi, born Joann Kelly, alleges that her dad sexually abused her when she was eight or nine.
"He was my everything. For a long time, I didn't even want to believe that it happened. I didn't know that even if he was a bad person that he would do something to me," she says in the documentary. "I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom."
"I just remember waking up to him touching me," Buku recalled of the alleged abuse. "And I didn't know what to do, so I just kind of laid there, and I pretended to be asleep."
She eventually told her mother, Andrea, about it in 2009 when she was 10 years old.
In response to Buku's claims, Kelly's attorney Jennifer Bonjean told PEOPLE: "Mr. Kelly vehemently denies these allegations. His ex-wife made the same allegation years ago, and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services and was unfounded.... And the 'filmmakers,' whoever they are, did not reach out to Mr. Kelly or his team to even allow him to deny these hurtful claims."
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org
Joe Yates