Despite the overwhelming amount of evidence prosecutors say that have against him, R. Kelly has been fighting long and hard to be released from prison, even before the coronavirus pandemic struck. The singer has been pleading with the judge for an early release out of fear that he’ll contract COVID-19 behind bars but the judge didn’t budge the first time, nor the second time.

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TMZ reports that Kelly’s second bid to be released from prison has, once again, been shut down by a judge. The judge did recognize the potential risk of waiting behind bars as Kelly awaits trial. However, Kelly apparently didn’t make a compelling enough motion to convince the judge that he was particularly at risk.

Kelly’s claimed he’s not a flight risk and doubled down on that claim when he revealed that he owes nearly $2M to the IRS. Any money that he’d receive through royalties or otherwise would be redirected to the IRS, anyways. But, even then, the judge thought it was safer to keep him inside of prison instead of on home confinement. Pointing to his witness tampering charge, as well as his general past, the judge said that the pandemic already has resources being stretched and they simply can’t take the chance with him.

“They cannot ensure that a defendant with a history, incentive and opportunity to interfere with potential witnesses will not do so,” she said. 

Tekashi 6ix9ine‘s plea to the court to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest to reduce his chances of contracting coronavirus has been denied by the judge, but there may be another way that the rapper can be released early. On Monday, we reported that 6ix9ine was fearing for his life behind bars, as the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continues to rise within the New York prison system. According to his lawyer, Lance Lazarro, the rapper possesses a higher risk of contracting the virus, as he has multiple pre-existing conditions that render him more vulnerable to becoming infected. Last Halloween, 6ix9ine was diagnosed with bronchitis and sinusitis, which ultimately led him to be hospitalized.

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Because of his client’s medical conditions, Lazarro implored Judge Paul Engelmeyer that 6ix9ine, who is set to be released in August, be granted early release from prison under the condition that he serve the remainder of his sentence under house request. In the letter sent to Judge Engelmeyer, Lazarro also noted that 6ix9ine has been experiencing shortness of breath—one of the primary symptoms of coronavirus—and that the prison facility’s doctor had recommended he be treated at a hospital, only for the warden to deny him that freedom.

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Despite Lazarro’s efforts, though, Judge Engelmeyer has denied the request. According to legal documents, the court actually lacks the legal authority to grant the request in the first place. However, while Judge Engelmeyer may not be able to do 6ix9ine any favours, he suggested that Lazarro instead file the request with the Bureau of Prisons. Engelmeyer insisted that, at the time of sentencing, he would have directed that 6ix9ine’s final four months be served in home confinement had he known back then that a global pandemic would ensue to which 6ix9ine’s medical conditions would make him particularly vulnerable. According to TMZ, Lazarro believes that Judge Engelmeyer’s sympathetic response “is a strong recommendation to the Bureau of Prisons to release him immediately,” and thus plans to file the request with the BOP promptly. We’ll keep you updated on the BOP’s decision.

A judge has officially denied the emergency motion filed by 1501 Certified Entertainment CEO Carl Crawford to dissolve Megan Thee Stallion‘s temporary restraining order against the label, which allowed her to release her debut album, SUGA, without his permission. Megan made her conflict with the label and Carl public this weekend by going on Instagram live to reveal that 1501 has been preventing her from releasing new music ever since she requested a renegotiation of her contract. She went on to file a lawsuit against 1501 and Carl, and was granted a temporary restraining order that allowed her to put out new music at her leisure. She immediately took advantage of the opportunity by announcing the upcoming release of her debut album, SUGA, this Friday, Match 6th. Carl took action by filing an emergency motion to have Megan’s restraining order tossed out, thus preventing her from releasing new music, but the judge denied his request on Wednesday night.

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District Court Judge Beau A. Miller stated that “the album at issue may be dropped for distribution beginning March 6, 2020.” Miller also ordered that Rap-A-Lot Records head J. Prince, whom Megan’s team has accused of making threatening social media posts toward her after he publicly expressed his support of Carl in the whole debacle, to “refrain from threatening or posting threatening or retaliatory social media posts or threats against [Megan], her agents, or her representatives.” Miller also established some rules for both Megan and Carl, who, in the wake of Megan’s claims, spoke to the press to publicly denounce most of her story. Miller has thus prohibited both parties “from communicating with the media concerning the underlying issues in this case without court approval.” It looks like SUGA will most definitely be dropping tomorrow.

Blac Chyna is not letting Rob Kardashian’s recent attempt to gain primary custody of their daughter Dream get to her, as she debuted a new, side-swept pixie cut on Instagram amid their court battle. The mother of two shared some snapshots of her new hairstyle on Thursday, a few hours after it was reported that Rob’s motion to be the primary caretaker of Dream and restrict Chyna’s access to seeing her was denied.

“Miami is a vibe,” she wrote in the caption of the post. While it’s likely that the hairstyle is a wig, it’s certainly a drastic departure from her usual looks.

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Chyna certainly needed a change during this stressful time. According to court documents, she was “shocked to learn” about Rob’s request, which would have “permanently change[d] the Custody Order for Dream so that Chyna would only be permitted to see her daughter from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday with a ‘monitor’ present.” He also asked Chyna to “submit to drug and alcohol testing no less than 30 minutes before each visit with their daughter.” Chyna herself has yet to address the matter, but according to her Instagram photos, she’s focusing on her Fashion Nova partnership and keeping her ex out of her mind.

According to multiple reports, a family judge has denied Rob Kardashian’s request for primary custody of his and Blac Chyna’s 3-year-old daughter Dream Kardashian.

The documents say Chyna was “shocked to learn” about Kardashian’s request for an emergency order that would “permanently change the Custody Order for Dream so that Chyna would only be permitted to see her daughter from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday with a ‘monitor’ present, rather than the 5 days a week she now sees and cares for precious Dream.” The documents go on to allege that, even though Kardashian’s motion was denied, Chyna was “forced to expend time and resources to oppose Rob’s baseless motion.”

The docs that Kardashian originally filed seeking primary custody also included a request for Chyna to submit to drug and alcohol testing no less than 30 minutes before each visit with their daughter. Chyna’s attorney, Lynne Ciani, told ET at the time that the allegations made against her client were “absolutely absurd.”

In a statement, Chyna’s lawyer said, “Chyna will not back down from Rob and his family’s attempt to take away her agreed-upon custody of Dream. She will continue to take all necessary steps to protect her children, including defeating Rob’s and his family’s latest attempt to undermine Chyna’s joy as a mother to Dream and her ability to make a living as a single mother – without any child support from Rob.”

While Kardashian’s emergency motion was denied, he still has the ability to argue for a change to the custody arrangement in the future.

R. Kelly isn’t the only one taking the fall for his long list of sex crimes. To be both a celebrity and serial sexual predator for decades expectedly requires the collusion of others to cover of his tracks or turn a blind eye. The disgraced singer’s former managers, Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown, are two other defendants listed in Kelly’s child pornography case, as they allegedly aided Kelly in bribing victims and destroying evidence. 

Back in October, McDavid and Brown both argued that they could not be held criminally accountable for this federal conspiracy charge since they claimed the statute of limitations had expired. They are being accused of obtaining and destroying sex tapes involving Kelly and minors between 1997 and 2002, which they believed would only allow the court to prosecute them for those crimes up to 2014. It turns out they were wrong. 

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According to All Hip Hop, on Tuesday (Feb. 4), the managers’ motions to have the charges dropped were denied by Judge Harry D. Leinenweber. “As alleged, Defendants did not perform these overt acts to cover up the prior alleged crimes but rather in furtherance of the conspiracy’s main criminal objectives, including to conceal sexual abuse,” the judge’s ruling stated. 

Kelly and his managers claimed that there was not sufficient evidence for them to be prosecuted for this crime and that the statute of limitations had run out. 

So PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has a commercial they’re wanting to air on Super Bowl Sunday that portrays some animated animals taking a knee during the National Anthem to protest injustice, but apparently the Colin Kaepernick-vibes are too controversial to get the network’s approval.

According to TMZ, PETA wanted to make a commercial calling for an end to speciesism. To “challenge people to expand their concept of injustice to include humans’ injustice against other species.” In other words, they want people to stop killing other living species, regardless of who they are.

PETA says everything was on track to be aired after they submitted the Colin Kaepernick-themed ad back in December, even hearing at the time that it was being looked over, but apparently they haven’t heard a word since then. They were reportedly told by their agents that the NFL was pressuring Fox to not air the ad.

PETA also says their claims to run the commercial in local markets, either before or after the Super Bowl, have also gone completely unanswered. A source close to the league says it’s ultimately up to the network carrying the game, not the NFL, to approve or reject all ads. However, PETA believes otherwise and knows the power & influence of the NFL.

Check out the controversial commercial (below) and let us know what you think. Too bad for FOX or should it be aired?

For some reason, R. Kelly has been expecting prosecutors to take it easy on him. Earlier today, it was reported that his request was denied to have the identities of two Jane Doe accusers revealed in his federal case. Kelly’ lawyer, Steve Greenberg, claimed that it would be difficult to build a defence without this information, but the judge was more concerned about Kelly intimidating his alleged victims, as he has in the past. 

Turns out Greenberg had also asked the judge to cut Kells some slack in regards to his attendance at an upcoming hearing. There is a hearing scheduled for February 6 in New York for his federal case, but Kelly wished to be exempt from appearing at it. According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Greenberg wrote in a letter to the judge that he would not be able to make it on that date and neither would another one of Kelly’s lawyers. 

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Frankly, the prosecutors did not give two hoots about whatever excuse Kelly and his team were providing. They responded to the request: “In light of the upcoming trial date and the serious nature of the charges that the defendant faces, the government respectfully requests that, absent a compelling reason, the defendant appear by video conference at the conference scheduled for February 6, 2020.”