If R. Kelly and his handlers knew what was good for him, he would always steer clear of any and all interviews. Since many signs point to R. Kelly not knowing what's good for him — although it rarely matters in the end — he sat down with BET's Toure to have a little discussion about his alleged predilection for teenage girls. Kelly's take: When you fire people, they like to accuse you of being a pedophile. Even when they are related to you. Also, he has 19-year-old friends. Sue him! Transcript and video after the jump. Don't worry, it made my head hurt, too.

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Ne-Yo is $700,000 richer, and he has R. Kelly's egotistical grand-standing to thank. Rumor has it, R. Kelly kicked Ne-Yo off of his tour last year because the ladies were screaming a bit louder during the younger R&B singer's set than they were during his. That's blasphemy in Mr. Kelly's world! Instead of suing the problem-plagued Kelly, Ne-Yo sued the concert promotion company, and yesterday a judge ruled in his favor. Not that he needs the money — his recent "Big Red" windfall can buy him all the fedoras he ever wanted. [EUR]

If child pornography allegations didn't stick, this probably won't, but here goes: R. Kelly is wanted for questioning in a South African money scandal. He allegedly made $130,000 for a concert that he never gave.

Busiswe Zakwe was arrested and charged with swindling thousands of dollars from investors by promising ticket sale profits if they brought an R. Kelly tour to the country in 2005. Kelly never stepped foot in South Africa, but the woman claims she deposited the investors' money into his account. Local police have reportedly confirmed that the account Zakwe claims is Kelly's is authentic, but the money is nowhere to be found. Police want to question Kelly about the missing funds.

[EUR]

• What exactly is L'Oreal advertising with this photo — some sort of race-reversal cream? [CF]

• I don't know. Maybe you're bored at work and want to see a video of Nelly's Sean John underwear photo shoot. [TLF]

• Kanye West wants everyone to stop discriminating against gays… and Soulja Boy. [MTV]

• Here's how the blogosphere — including one of you guys — responded to Vogue Italia. [BV]

• Joe says R. Kelly tried to sabotage his career. [EUR]

The furor surrounding by R. Kelly's trial and subsequent acquittal has died down, and, although one might have hoped that R. Kelly wouldn't be seen or heard from for a long time, that's not the case. He's back with a bunch of leaked tracks and a new, upcoming album, 12 Play: 4th Quarter. MTV describes some of the tracks for us, and they are singularly about sex, of course:

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A woman who shouted "Free R. Kelly" during the singer's trial pornography trial, just got out of jail after a judge sent here there for 33 days for making an outburst in court. That's 33 days more than R. Kelly ever spent in jail for his charges. That's because he promptly paid his bail, and the family of super misguided fan Debra Triplett couldn't afford her $5,000 bond. Upon her release yesterday, she had this to say to the press: Speaking outside the jail gates after her release, she said she was upset Kelly had not bailed her out. “I was real bummed about that,” she said. “For sure I thought he would step up.”

Oh, but never fear. She's still a fan. [C&D]

• 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!

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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]