YouTube has moved to permanently suspend two channels of R&B singer R. Kelly following his recent conviction for sex trafficking. The disgraced star will also not be allowed to create any new channels going forward, as per Variety.
It should be noted that YouTube hasn’t completely banned R. Kelly’s music, with his catalogue still accessible on the video platform’s YouTube Music.
RKellyTV and RKellyVevo were removed by YouTube on Tuesday, October 5th. They had a large amounts of subscribers, with 3.5 million and 1.6 million respectively. YouTube cited a violation of its terms of service as the reason for the removals.
If someone now attempts to watch videos on the channels, a message is displayed: “This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.” It comes as the singer’s official accounts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook have also been disabled.
“Egregious actions committed by R. Kelly warrant penalties beyond standard enforcement measures due to a potential to cause widespread harm,” YouTube VP of legal Nicole Alston wrote in a memo, as reported by Bloomberg. “Ultimately we are taking this action to protect our users similar to other platforms.”
R. Kelly’s longtime label, Sony Music’s RCA Records, parted ways with the singer back in 2019 but his catalogue still remains with the label. His music is still available on major streaming platforms which has attracted some criticism.
In a survey conducted by Morning Consult after his conviction, a huge 44% of streaming service users said platforms like Spotify and Apple Music should remove R. Kelly’s music from their catalogues. 36% said his songs should remain while 20% had no opinion on the matter.
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R. Kelly was found guilty of racketeering and faces 10 years to life in prison. He’s due to be sentenced next May.
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