• Michelle Williams isn’t getting any play on BET because her album isn’t urban enough. [SR]

• Meanwhile, Kelly Rowland encouraging kids to have an open dialog about safe sex and HIV/AIDS. [CL]

• Black men unite against R. Kelly and his ilk. [WAOD]

• Young Jeezy was arrested yesterday, but not for selling coke. [AHH]

• That rumor about Diddy and Tracey Edmonds is supposedly true. Whatever — I can’t keep up with either of them. [Bossip]

• Hot off his album’s huge debut week, Lil Wayne’s forming a super group with T-Pain. Super? [NB]

• Is this what they mean by tears of a clown? [AHH]

• R. Kelly’s lawyer felt compelled to tell Hannah Montana he’s sorry for bring up her name during a sordid child porn trial. What, the makers of Little Man don’t get an apology. [C&D]

• Noose shmoose. Racists have no creativity these days. [CST]

• Can the magic touch of Swizz Beatz resurrect Michael Jackson’s career? In a word, no. [SP]

• Damon Dash and Rachel Roy just signed a $4 billion licensing deal for Roy’s clothing line. This should put to end those Dame-Dash-is-bankrupt rumors. [NR]

• This is sort of preaching to the choir, but still. The war sucks. [JJP]

• Want to learn about the black family? CNN’ll school ya. [CL]

• More on R. Kelly’s pervy past. [SOHH]

• True, Chris Brown is younger than Rihanna. But she doesn’t like them this young. [SR]

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!

CONTINUED »

Let’s face it — unless, due to some warped, wishful thinking, you are convinced that the real R. Kelly is “I Believe I Can Fly” and not “You Remind Me of My Jeep,” or you are just such a die-hard fan that you are completely delusional, most people believe that R. Kelly did indeed film himself having sex with and pissing on his 14-year-old goddaughter, whether they’re in the cut-off-his-balls or the she-was-old-enough-to-know-what-she-wanted camp. You believe this because you saw the tape — which very clearly shows R. Kelly and a sickeningly young girl in an ugly wood-paneled room one might also have seen if one had tuned into his MTV Cribs episode — or because you know that R. Kelly married a 15-year-old Aaliyah, or because you’ve heard about the multiple settlements he’s paid to underage girls who have accused him of sexual misconduct.

The jury saw the same tape many of us did (I was in college; it still makes me queasy to think about it). And, from what they’re saying in post-trial interviews, they saw what everyone else saw. So why the hell did R. Kelly get away with it? There was one little thing. Well, one big thing.

CONTINUED »

Breaking: The jury in the R. Kelly child pornography trial has reached a verdict. Not guilty on all 14 counts.

Wherein you, the readers, talk amongst yourselves.

The closing arguments in the R. Kelly case have been delivered, and the jury is now deliberating. Knowing what we know, and considering R. Kelly’s celebrity, hometown status, what’s your prediction of the verdict?

Not being a law professional and already believing that the man is guilty, it’s difficult for me to gauge R. Kelly’s chances of being acquitted. But you don’t have to be a law professional to know that R. Kelly, who based on insider-y things I’ve heard and interviews I’ve read and witnessed, has the IQ of a slug, did himself a big favor by avoiding the witness stand.

Yesterday, he waived his right to testify in his defense. Unfortunately for his side of the trial, though, a judge vetoed a defense request to instruct the jury to give less weight to cross-racial identifications (when white people identified either Kelly or his alleged victim in the sex tape) because witnesses either came from cross-racial families or had relationships with the defendant. Closing arguments are slated to begin Thursday morning. [MTV]

The legal team defending R Kelly, aka Jack the Pisser, in his Chicago kiddie porn trial rested their case yesterday after just two days of testimony, meaning jurors could be in deliberation as early as Thursday.

According to reports out of Illinois, Kelly’s defense was nowhere near as tight as his cornrows:

CONTINUED »

R. KELLY’S VICTIM ALL GROWN UP!!!! Numerous emails have hit my inbox promising real photos of R. Kelly’s alleged child pornography victim, all grown up. Other blogs have posted photos and videos, even going so far as to call the girl names. There are two possibilities here: One is that at the age of 13, this girl was sexually abused by an older, richer, successful R&B singer while he videotaped it; the second is that she is, as she asserts, the victim of mistaken identity, and it is not her in the sex tapes. However far fetched the second claim might be, either possibility should cause people to pause and reflect before blasting her face across the internet. One would think…

• When you’re Karrine Steffans, one of the first things you do when you find yourself a domestic abuse situation with the dude who played Eddie Winslow on Family Matters is to text Perez Hilton. [PH]

• Mike Tyson is a sad, paranoid man. [SP]

• Maybe this will stop would-be thieves from targeting NFL players’ mansions for their home invasions. [BV]

• The side of the victim’s family that possibly received money from R. Kelly is now testifying for the defense. [MTV]

• The Cartoon-Network-banned episodes of The Boondocks will be available on DVD. But you’re probably already seen them on YouTube. [EUR]

R. Kelly’s tell-tale mole has been found, the tape has been verified, the young girl has been identified by friends and family, and the prosecution in R. Kelly’s child pornography trial has rested its case. Yesterday, 27-year-old Lisa Van Allen testified that she had multiple three-way encounters with Kelly and the victim when the victim was underage.

The jury will break for today and the defense will begin its presentation today. Although, now that the “missing mole” has been found, they will probably be looking for a new angle. Sadly, the fact that the victim won’t cop to being in the tape is a pretty good one. [USAT]

• 50 Cent’s burning-house drama continues: his ex says he hasn’t called his son since their house burned down and authorities found a gas can on the property. [EUR]

• Sharon Stone needs to stop talking. [SR]

• R. Kelly’s circus continues. [TMZ]

• Naomi Campbell is going bald. No biggie, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have any intention of showing her real hair to the public even if she had it. [Bossip]

• This dude from The Real World: Hollywood is even more worse than I thought he was after that one, horrible episode I watched. [NB]

• Since he can’t make a statement with the title, Nas decided to make a statement with his album’s cover art. [NB]

• Clearly, black celebrities and “celebrities” are quite attracted to two Viacom channels. BET is not one of them. [EUR]

• Yesterday, a forensic video analyst testified during R. Kelly’s pornography trial that “it would take someone 44 years — working nonstop, 24/7, 365 days a year — to be able to fake the sex tape” at the center of the trial. He also found the mole on the back of the man in the video that matches Kelly’s, even though Kelly’s main defense is that the mole isn’t present in the video. [Bossip]

• Thirteen-year-old Nyjah Huston is killin’ the skateboarding game. [BV]

• Many colleges are dropping the SAT and ACT as requirements for admission. [CNN]