R. Kelly's Legal Team Vs. Jim DeRogatis



OK, this is over two weeks old, so hardly can be considered news. But perhaps you'll find it entertaining just the same.

DeRogatis makes a number of assertions about the Sept. 29 Chicago R. Kelly concert that are flat-out wrong. DeRogatis states that Kelly and two dancers ''re-emerge in a barred jail cell and feign wild intercourse.'' DeRogatis claims that the opening video depicts Jay-Z and Kelly's tour buses speeding toward Chicago but that Kelly's bus is followed by ''an army of Chicago police cars,'' and that Kelly delivers an unidentified ''sexy jam'' against the backdrop of ''flowing yellow water or rain.'' DeRogatis reminds readers of the alleged urination scene in the video that is involved in Kelly's criminal case. DeRogatis is of course familiar with the video, since he allegedly received the video anonymously.

Apparently, DeRogatis is so focused on Kelly's criminal case that he sees it everywhere -- even in places it is not. The cage dancing scene DeRogatis describes actually took place not during an instrumental for ''Snake'' but during Kelly's performance of an unreleased song with a jungle motif. That song featured animal noises to an accompaniment of dancers portraying caged wild animals. The dancers were not clad in orange jumpsuits. They wore heavy red silk robes. They danced not in a jail cell but in a cage (one that, incidentally, has been owned and used by Kelly and his tour group for more than six years). The unreleased song with a jungle motif was no more about jail than it was about the presidential election. DeRogatis is similarly misguided in his description of the opening tour bus scene. The scene depicts anonymous buses, later identifiable as Kelly's and Jay-Z's entourages, speeding to the concert venue. The buses then crash onto the concert stage over a blare of sirens with police and mock television reporters following the crash. The scene is not a police chase of Kelly. Finally, ''flowing yellow water or rain'' during a ''sexy jam'' is nothing of the sort. The song was ''Honey Love,'' and shown on the video screens were large balls of a golden viscous substance that floated slowly up and down, designed to depict -- you guessed it -- honey.

Posted: Sun - October 31, 2004 at 08:31 PM      

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