CHICAGO — Jurors in R. Kelly’s federal child pornography trial had been told the evidence in the case would transport them back in time, but they probably didn’t think they’d find themselves watching the 1998 Grammy Awards.
“Every once in a while, a song comes along that touches us all in a way that is out of the ordinary,” actor Kelsey Grammer said on the snippet of the show played in court Wednesday. Then the curtain lifted, the camera zoomed in, and jurors saw Kelly at the height of his fame: 31 years old, flooded with blue spotlights, in front of a giant video of a soaring bald eagle.
Kelly’s memorable performance of “I Believe I Can Fly,” which won multiple Grammy Awards, was played by prosecutors to reinforce the image of him as a powerful superstar. At the time of the video, however, Kelly had allegedly been sexually assaulting his young goddaughter for two years, part of a pattern of sexual misconduct that has now landed him in court for a second federal trial.
