R. Kelly was found guilty on all nine counts in his federal sex trafficking and racketeering case last Monday (Sept. 27). Now, just a week later, YouTube has taken down both of the singer’s official channels, but is not banning him entirely.
RKellyTV, which had 3.5 million subscribers, and RKellyVevo, which had roughly 1.6 million subscribers, reportedly violated YouTube’s terms of service. Anyone attempting to view content on the now-deleted channels will see the message: “This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.”
Variety reports that YouTube pulled down the channels linked to R. Kelly in accordance with its “creator responsibility guidelines.” That policy prohibits “on- and/or off-platform behavior that we may consider to be inappropriate,” including “intending to cause malicious harm to others” and “participating in abuse or violence, demonstrating cruelty, or participating in fraudulent/deceptive behavior leading to real-world harm.”
YouTube’s Vice President of Legal, Nicole Alston, released a statement saying, “Egregious actions committed by R. Kelly warrant penalties beyond standard enforcement measures due to a potential to cause widespread harm. Ultimately we are taking this action to protect our users similar to other platforms.”
Following the indefinite suspension, Kelly will be unable to create new channels in the future. His catalog, though, will still be available on YouTube Music.
In May 2018—during the height of #MuteRKelly—Spotify removed the Chicago native’s catalog from their official playlists, citing, “what we choose to program [will] reflect our values.” However, Kelly’s discography is still accessible on all major streaming platforms.