R. Kelly Rushed to the Hospital for Overdose, Lawyers Claims It Was a Murder Plot
The "Step in the Name of Love" singer is serving a 30-year prison sentence in a North Carolina federal prison.
Published June 17 2025, 9:52 a.m. ET
Lawyers for singer R. Kelly asked for him to be released from prison after claiming there was an alleged plot to assassinate him by the prison's staff.
R. Kelly, full name Robert Sylvester Kelly, is serving a 30-year sentence in a North Carolina federal prison for racketeering and sex crimes, along with a 20-year sentence for a child sexual abuse materials conviction in Chicago. While there, he overdosed and was rushed to the hospital. Here's what to know.
R. Kelly was hospitalized for an overdose and requested to be released from prison early.
According to USA Today, R. Kelly's legal counsel alleges he suffered an overdose on June 12, 2025. The incident occurred after he was placed in solitary confinement that day. R. Kelly's team said the prison officials gave him more than his prescribed amount of medication that day. The amount of drugs sent him to Duke University Hospital in Durham, N.C. He was reportedly released from the hospital against medical advice.
Following his release from the hospital, R. Kelly said he believed the prison officials hired someone to murder him. According to ABC 7, he claimed the prison officials' motive for killing him was to cover up government misconduct. However, prosecutors rejected his bid for an early release, calling it "deeply unserious" and "repugnant." The prosecutors also said the judge working on his case in North Carolina didn't have any jurisdiction to release him.
R. Kelly will still have a hearing regarding his release on Friday, June 20. His overdose and hospitalization stay came after his legal team announced in June 2025 that they were seeking a pardon from President Trump.
"We are engaged in conversations with multiple persons close to the White House and to President Trump," the team wrote in a statement. "My client does not have the luxury to wait for vindication from the Courts that will follow the exposure of the corruption at the heart of his prosecutions."
R. Kelly was convicted in 2021 after being found guilty of sexual abuse at two federal trials. The trial came after decades of abuse allegations, many of which involved him and minors.