R. Kelly has been acquitted on all counts at his child pornography trial.The pop singer, who was first charged six years ago, had faced a maximum 15 years in prison on charges he videotaped himself having sex with a young girl, whom prosecutors said was 13 at the time.Both Kelly and the girl, now 23, denied that they appeared on the videotape, which was shown to the jury at the start and end of the trial.A prosecution witness claimed she had three-way sex with Kelly and the girl while the defense argued the man on the tape did not have a large mole on his back, as Kelly does. — J.R. WhalenRelated:• Watch R. Kelly's music video, Trapped in the Closet
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Rap bigwig Jay-Z is giving up his post as president of Def Jam Records, officially to expand his nightclub empire but presumably to spend more time deflecting questions about whether he's secretly married to Beyoncé.... An R. Kelly fan has been sentenced to five days in the clink for taking cell-phone pics of the hip-hop bad boy while he was in court on kiddie porn charges. — Ben Katner
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At last! Two years after the hip-hop bad boy released the uncategorizable soap opera/music video/freaky indie flick Trapped in the Closet Chapters 1-12, he's finished with Chapters 13-22. Starting Aug. 13, a new chapter a day will go live; the DVD collection of the new webisodes will hit stores on Aug. 21. Don't know what the hell I'm talking about here? Not a problem. IFC.com will be running Chapters 1–12 beginning Aug. 6, and the cabler will broadcast the entire series as a feature on Sept. 7 at 9 pm/ET. This will be followed by a 30-minute Q&A with Kelly.
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George Clooney's Smokehouse shingle is developing for Showtime Doubting Thomas, an hourlong drama about a family of televangelists, eyed for a possible 2008 premiere.... Also per Variety, IFC will air all 12 original episodes of R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" "hip-hopera," as well as collaborate with the recording artist on 10 new installments.... HBO Sports' Costas Now returns with a mid-season baseball special on July 24 at 10 pm/ET.... Hallmark Channel has commissioned 30 original movies for 2008, its biggest slate ever. And only 24 of them star Stacy Keach!.... As scooped by the Ausiello Report, Lifetime has ordered a second, 18-episode season of Army Wives, to launch next spring.
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A shiver just went down my spine. No, I didn't listen to my birthday message from Mariska Hargitay again. OK, yes I did — but that's not where the shiver came from. I just finished reading a first draft of the script for Heroes, NBC's fall pilot about everyday folks blessed with superpowers, and, well, to answer the question I posed in the title, yes, I believe a new Lost-like phenomenon is about to be born. And here's why:
THE CAST ROCKS: In addition to one of my FFPOTP Greg Grunberg, the ensemble boasts Gilmore guy Milo Ventimiglia and teenage wunderkind Hayden Panettiere. The show's behind-the-scenes pedigree is equally as impressive. Dave Semel, whose credits include directing the American Dreams p
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