R. Kelly Wants Do-Over In Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Due To Illiteracy: Report

R. Kelly claims he didn't understand anything in the legal papers.

BYAron A.
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R. Kelly's been taking L's everywhere, from his career to his personal life. His most recent L came earlier this week after he failed to show up to court for a civil suit, resulting in a default judgment for Heather Williams, one of the women who's accused him of sexual abuse. However, Kells isn't going down without a fight apparently. According to reports, he's demanding for a do-over in court due to his learning disability.

TMZ reports that R. Kelly's legal team are demanding that they give Kells another shot at proving his innocence in court. The singer's lawyers, Zaid Abdallah and Raed Shalabi, claimed that he was served with the civil suit while he was locked up in Cook County Jail for failure to pay child support and said he shouldn't have been served there.

However, what's even more interesting about their argument is that they're leaning heavily on the fact that R. Kelly has a learning disability. The legal documents said Kells "suffers from a learning disability that adversely affects his ability to read," adding, "in essence he cannot."

Ultimately, they're arguing that he couldn't even read the legal papers to take the appropriate measures to defend himself.

His legal team also fires shots at the accuser's lawyer, claiming they could've served the papers to Kelly's criminal lawyer or brought them to his Trump Tower home. However, the accuser's lawyer previously said security made it impossible to serve papers to his home. Kelly's lawyers refute that claim. 


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About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.