Robert Sylvester Kelly, the rapper mostly known as R. Kelly, was rushed to Duke University Hospital after reportedly overdosing on medication administered to him while in solitary confinement.
The 58-year-old is currently serving a 30-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institute in Butner, North Carolina, following his conviction in 2022 on racketeering and trafficking charges involving minors.
Highlights
- R. Kelly overdosed on medication in prison. He was rushed to the hospital for two days.
- Legal team alleges Kelly is targeted in an assassination plot by inmates and prison staff.
- Kelly’s conviction stems from racketeering and trafficking minors; he used fame to exploit underage girls.
According to court filings, Kelly was placed in solitary confinement on June 10—just days after his legal team filed an emergency motion arguing that three officials were conspiring to have him fatally attacked by another inmate.
Convicted rapper R. Kelly was rushed to the hospital after overdosing on medication. Legal team alleges he’s being targeted
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His legal team also alleges he was forced to ingest dangerously high doses of anxiety medication by prison staff, triggering a medical emergency that left him unconscious and hospitalized.
“He was given more medications and was directed to take them,” the filing states. Three days later, in the early morning hours of June 13, Kelly reportedly began feeling “faint and dizzy.”
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He told staff he was seeing black spots in his vision before collapsing. “He crawled to the door of the cell and lost consciousness,” the court document reads.
Onsite medical staff tried and failed to stabilize him, and Kelly was transported by ambulance to Duke University Hospital. Before passing out, the rapper allegedly dropped a concerning warning to a prison staffer.
“This is going to open a new can of worms,” he said according to his legal team.
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The rapper remained hospitalized for two days, where doctors discovered blood clots in his legs that would require further surgery—a procedure that was allegedly denied.
“He was forcibly removed from Duke University Hospital against medical advice,” Kelly’s lawyers added.
Federal prosecutors, on the other hand, have denied any wrongdoing, and the Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on what it called “pending litigation.”
Kelly used his fame and fortune to create a trafficking network targeting underage women
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“He is the worst,” said veteran attorney Gloria Allred, who represented Kelly’s multiple victims leading up to his conviction in 2021. “Of all the predators I have pursued, Mr. Kelly is the worst.”
Once revered for hits like Ignition and I Believe I Can Fly, R. Kelly’s fall from grace was both public and catastrophic.
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His trial revealed decades of ab*se, manipulation, and control over underage girls and young women, many of whom spoke out in the 2019 documentary Surviving R. Kelly.
Helped by a network of complicit handlers, Kelly dazzled these women with promises of a future in show business—Instead, they were dr*gged, isolated, and broken.
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Perhaps his most well-known relationship is the one he maintained with the late R&B star Aaliyah. Court evidence revealed he had intimate relations with her when she was around 13 years old, and illegally married her in 1994 by forging documents that said she was 18.
At the time, she was 15. He was 27.
Aaliyah’s debut album, named Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number, both written and produced by Kelly, reads like a chilling manifesto in retrospect.
Kelly’s legal team believe he’s the target of an assassination plot by both inmates and prison staff
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Kelly's legal team argue that the rapper has been purposely neglected in prison. They said he has repeatedly been denied adequate care for his blood clots and other chronic conditions, and that this latest incident is just the latest in a consistent pattern of “gross negligence” on the part of prison officials.
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Adding to the controversy is the fact that Kelly petitioned for a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. The desperate move is allegedly a response to an “assassination plot” involving a white supremacist gang leader behind bars.
“Mr. Kelly fears that he might be mortally wounded,” the document states.
Given the magnitude of Kelly’s crimes, some believe prison personnel and inmates harbor a deadly sense of retribution against him.
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According to a 2022 study on violence inside correctional facilities, in the world of prison hierarchies, s*x offenders, especially those who harm children, are considered the lowest of the low.
The study, which interviewed inmates who had ended the lives of convicted ab*sers, revealed that at least half felt justified in their actions—and that they were helped by prison staff.
"Someone's trying to take him out." Netizens believe Kelly's overdose was intentional
