Now that he’s free to roam the streets, pen catchy-when-you-don’t-pay-attention-to-the-lyrics, misogynistic, and sexually-explicit songs, R. Kelly has joined an elite group of super-stars who narrowly avoided lengthy jail terms for major crimes. Yes, as an acquitted celebrity, he’ll join an exclusive club of Famous People Who Got Away With It (Whether They Were Guilty Or Not). Check out some of the club members after the jump. At least two of them, like R. Kelly, have been ruled guilty in the court of public opinion, but who cares if what the public thinks if the jury says you’re innocent!

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• The Root dedicated its editorial space to black fathers today. [The Root]

• Last night’s disaster of a game (if you’re a Laker fan) drove Kobe Bryant to drink. [TMZ]

• Mike Tyson makes my head hurt. [PH]

• Office fans: Rashida Jones could be starring in a spinoff of the NBC comedy. [E!]

• Alicia Keys wants to adopt a multicultural group of kids just like Angelina Jolie! [SP]

• Now that Kobe Bryant has been minted the new NBA MVP, endorsements that he lost three years ago during his rape scandal are coming back to him. [BV]

• Karma’s a bitch, R. Kelly. [Bossip]

• Isaiah Washington is pissed at Grey’s Anatomy producers for using his likeness in an episode after kicking him to the curb last year. [Reuters]

• Chris Rock, in all of his infinite wisdom. [C&D]

• That guy who knocked Suge Knight out over the weekend was a 5′10 barber. Pardon, a 5′10 barber who now fears for his life. [MG]

• R. Kelly asks to delay his trial again because of all the publicity that news of an alleged threesome received over the weekend. Oh, please. [MTV]

• Forest Whitaker has been stabbed a few times. Who knew? [SP]

• Kobe Bryant is MVP of the NBA this year. This is a big deal to some people, just not to me. [NB]

• What do you know about the Muslim women of hip hop? [Racialicious]

• Nicole Scherzinger and Ne-Yo? Really? [Bossip]

With just $27 million earned between June 2006 and June 2007, LeBron James was the last in Forbes‘ list of the ten top-earning black stars. Before you go feeling all bad for LeBron James for coming in last on a list of insanely rich people, consider this: he was just 22 in June 2007. Next on the list is Beyonce, who also earned $27 million, but is probably in the spot above James due to alphabetical order. Or maybe because she’s prettier? Check the full list after the jump.

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Kobe Bryant just broke some sort of scoring record having to do with his age…or something. You guys know how I am with sports. Basically, any professional gains he’s been making as of late have to be at least a little soured by a new online book that’s being released by Patrick Graber, the guy who was arrested in 2003 for soliciting the murder of the alleged victim in Bryant’s rape trial. Although Bryant claims to have never met the man, Graber says he was once Bryant’s bodyguard and that Bryant asked him to have the woman killed. He then wrote a book, called Dead Women Tell No Tales, which is so bad he had to publish it online. Even OJ’s If I Did It got a publisher. Bryant is considering legal action, although it seems barely necessary. [BS]

• It’s really sad when one can find a more lasting love on I Love New York than on The Bachelor. [People]

• Omarion defends Chris Stokes against child molestation allegations. He said Stokes was always like a father figure to him. [SOHH]

• Kobe Bryant is the youngest player in NBA history to score 20,000 points. Sports. Yay. [EUR]

• Check the difference in enthusiasm — IDRIS ELBA! YAY! [BV]

• Marion Jones’s sad steroids evidence. [TSG]

Things are bad in the world of celebrity journalism when stars step forward to refute rumors so vague and unsubstantiated that no one was bothering to report them in the first place.

In this case, Kobe Bryant has announced that he is not seeking a divorce from Vanessa, his wife of six years, contrary to what a gossip site or two may have said. According to the basketball star, the two are as happy as they’ve ever been — excluding, I hope, a stretch of time around 2003 and 2004.

[ET]

As I informed you earlier, today is the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Loving vs. Virginia, which officially legalized interracial unions. A group of overly sentimental people have dubbed this day Loving Day, during which we are all supposed to celebrate our legal right to love and marry whoever we want (as long as they’re of the opposite sex). Here is a smattering of some famous interracial couples, starting with two of my favorites, Paula Patton and Robin Thicke.

With his basketball season over, Kobe Bryant spent some quality time with his wife Vanessa and oldest daughter, Natalia, at the premiere of the third installment of Pirates of the Caribbean, a movie sure to knock Shrek off of its box office pedestal as soon as it opens in theaters. Check out more pictures of the happy family and other movie-goers, a group that randomly includes Mark “Hanging With Mr. Cooper” Curry, below.