R. Kelly Case: Allred Claims Newly Discovered Tape Shows Singer Abusing Underage Girls
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- Attorney Gloria Allred announced Sunday that she was now representing a Pennsylvania man -- Gary Dennis -- who says he found an explicit videotape of embattled singer/rapper R. Kelly allegedly having sex with underage girls.
He was cleaning out old tapes when he said he found one labeled with the singer's name.
Dennis told reporters Sunday that he thought it might be a concert recording.
When he put the tape into his VCR he said he was stunned by what he saw -- a man who looked like R. Kelly sexually abusing girls.
"I was disgusted and I was horrified when I saw that," Dennis said.
Allred's new client said he's never met Kelly and the video was in a box with other tapes friend's have given him over the years.
Dennis said he had a daughter. And no man should see his daughter doing the kinds of things R. Kelly, or the man on the tape if it's not him, were doing to young girls. He did not elaborate.
Los Angeles defense attorney Lou Shapiro says Kelly's team will seize on the unclear origin of this tape and any others that might surface.
"The defense is going to say there's no date, there's no time, there's no location. The more people that come forward with tapes that are unsubstantiated, it undermines the credibility of the true victims, if in fact they are," Shapiro said.
An attorney for Kelly told the Associated Press that Kelly denies being on any tape with any underage girls. He also said he didn't have sex with underage girls in his explosive interview with CBS News' Gayle King.
She, of course, pointed out that Kelly was once married to 15-year-old singer Aaliyah in 1994. The marriage was annulled about six months later. (She died in a plane crash in 2001)
The allegations continue to pile up. Attorney Michael Avenatti says he turned over a tape of Kelly having sex with what appears to be an underage female, He said it was not the same tape that led to Kelly's 2008 trial.
Shapiro said Kelly's interview with King did nothing to repair his eroding image. He said Kelly appeared unprepared and the sit-down interview was a mistake. The interview was parodied on "Saturday Night Live" and fodder all week for late-night comics.
"He didn't have the right temperament," Shapiro said, "he seemed to be unstable, there was this sense of, I think he felt like he's a victim and that's what he was trying to get through but ultimately his behavior was not helpful to that cause."
The fact that Kelly was cleared of child pornography charges years ago, Shapiro believes, might be giving him a sense of confidence.
He told KCAL9's Laurie Perez that defendants who are charged with a similar crime for the second time can become emboldened if they walked previously.
"Not so much that he can walk on water but that he's been through this," Shapiro says, "he knows how to handle it, he's prevailed, and he'll prevail again if he has to."
