Benzino Says He Doesn’t Think R. Kelly Should “Rot In Jail” Over His Crimes Against Minors 

Benzino is here for Kelly getting a “second chance” amid his disgraced public image. R. Kelly’s legacy has taken multiple Ls over the last few years, overshadowed by allegations of sexual assault and abuse against women and children.

Benzino Says “Everyone” Including Kelly Deserves A “Second Chance”
Despite acknowledging Benzino’s criminal history, Benzino shared why he believes the Grammy winner deserves public support. The conversation went down on the ‘We In Miami’ podcast.

“Everybody deserves a second chance. But I know that Elvis, a lot of motherf**kers f**k with 14, 15, n****s f**k with young girls to keep it 100. I’m not into that.”

Benzino added that the “legal age is 16 years old” and then asked the other hosts and guests if the legal part makes pursuing girls that age “right.” The women on the set quickly disagreed, calling it “very wrong” and “gross.”

Benzino then questioned why Kelly is being subjected to “all this time” in prison. He suggested that lawmakers made the legal age 16 because of their own pedophile-related experiences.

To clarify, the legal age of consent in SOME states is 16 but overall varies between 16-18 in the United States, per Cornell Law School. At the federal and state levels, though, the age of consent for creating sexually explicit visual content is 18–no exceptions– per the Dept. of Justice.

“I’m not condoning f**king with little girls, it’s sick. It’s sick, but I don’t think R. Kelly should rot in jail either,” Benzino said.

See what Benzino said about the topic below.

EXPLAINED: Why Is R. Kelly In Prison?
In 2022, Chicago jurors convicted R. Kelly on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex. He was sentenced in Feb. 2023.

Last week, a federal appeals court doubled down on the 20-year prison sentence he received, per the Associated Press. The three-judge panel noted that the jurors acquitted Kelly on 7 of the 13 counts against him “even after viewing those abhorrent tapes.”

The appeals court also rejected Kelly’s argument that he should not have been prosecuted. His defense argued that the allegations occurred while Illinois law required prosecution of child sex crime charges within ten years.

The judges labeled it an attempt by Kelly to swerve the charges entirely after “employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet.”

Also in 2022, the former R&B singer was convicted in New York of federal racketeering and sex trafficking. The court gave him 30 years for his crimes. He is serving both sentences concurrently.

Associated Press staff Kathleen Foody contributed to this report.