The Trial of R. Kelly

"The Trial of R. Kelly" is the second episode of the Adult Swim animated television series, The Boondocks. It originally aired on November 13, 2005.

Plot

The episode opens with Huey, Granddad and Riley watching TV. Granddad switches the channel to a news segment and the reporter talks about R. Kelly's latest legal trouble revolving around a tape that he made of himself urinating on a 14 year old girl. Riley asks Granddad if they can go to the city and see the trial. Granddad declines, commenting that Riley's new Nikes cost enough that they can carry him the 40 miles to the courthouse just fine.

On the way to the courthouse, Riley and Huey encounter Tom Dubois (his first appearance in the show). Tom says that he hopes the boys aren't angry that he has to prosecute R. Kelly (Tom is the assistant district attorney). Riley, sporting a "Free R. Kelly" sign, gets into a spirited argument with Tom, bringing up possible reasons why finding R. Kelly guilty would cause more problems, claiming that "every nigga in the world is gon' be scared to pee". He also brings up the alleged victim's personal responsibility, claiming that her free will (i.e. her decision to let R. Kelly pee on her) shouldn't mean the world missing out on R. Kelly's next album. Tom is left speechless, to which Huey comments, "You just got beat by an 8 year old..."

At the courthouse, there are two groups of protesters. The first has three people in suits, one of them resembling Cornel West, with well-phrased signs protesting the exploitation of a minor. The second crowd has people grilling on barbecues, listening to R&B and holding crude signs with frequent misspellings demanding that R. Kelly be set free (e.g. "We Luv Yu R Kelly" and "Not Gilltee"). A news reporter asks one of the Kelly supporters (voiced by Crystal Scales) why she believes he is innocent. The large woman licks barbecue sauce off her fingers and says, "'Cause he good!" The reporter turns to Riley and asks him why he supports R. Kelly. Riley asks this, "If I started peeing on you right now would you A: Stand there and ask for more, or B: Move the hell out the way!?". Huey yanks his brother off camera, instigating a riot between the R. Kelly protesters and supporters, which is finally ended when R. Kelly shows up in his Hummer limo.

Meanwhile, Granddad is spending the day in the park with Uncle Ruckus playing checkers. They discuss the trial and its possible ramifications on black culture and society as a whole. Ruckus takes this opportunity to expand on his theory of white supremacy. He mentions the Kobe Bryant trial, and how white women are irresistible. He talks about this so intensely that he begins sweating.

In the courtroom, Tom Dubois presents his case — a well documented case backed up by a video tape of the act, testimony by the victim, and DNA evidence for good measure. R. Kelly's lawyer (played by Adam West) presents a different view: "Now some people see this so-called mountain of evidence — these video tapes, photographs, eyewitnesses, and DNA — and see a guilty man, but some of us can see that mountain of so-called evidence for what it really is: racism."

This argument, though preposterous, seems to appeal to the crowd and the jury. R. Kelly's lawyer continues to play the race card every chance he gets. He points out that though R. Kelly may have urinated on a minor, the victim was black, which indicates that R. Kelly is sexually attracted to black women. Tom objects to this argument. Kelly's lawyer replies "Your honor, I'm trying to establish to the court that my client is a proud black man who loves his black sistas. Unlike District Attorney Dubois... who's married... to a WHITE WOMAN!"

Tom tries again and again to get the assembly to see that it's not about black and white, but about whether or not the law has been broken. Recognizing the hopelessness of the situation (he's lost favor with the crowd, the jury, and the judge), he begrudgingly rests his case, defeated. R. Kelly's lawyer stands up and says that there is nothing left to say, so he starts playing some R&B music. R. Kelly leaps on a table and starts singing and the whole crowd dances...all except for Huey and the Dubois family.

Huey switches off the boom box and angrily addresses the crowd:

What the hell is wrong with you people? Every famous nigga that gets arrested is not Nelson Mandela! Yes the government conspires to put a lot of innocent black men in jail on fallacious charges, but R. Kelly is not one of those men! We all know the nigga can sing! But what happened to standards? What happened to bare minimums? You a fan of R. Kelly? You wanna help R. Kelly? Then get some counseling for R. Kelly! Introduce him to some older women. Hide his camcorder... but don't pretend like the man is a hero! ...And stop the damn dancin'! Act like you've got some Goddamn sense, people! Damn! Done playin around here...

Despite Huey's impassioned plea for sanity, the music is turned back on and R. Kelly is set free. Huey does the one thing he realizes he can do in this situation on the ride home...He blames white people.

Commentary

• There was a scene deleted from this episode in which Rosa Parks was protesting against R. Kelly outside the courthouse. The large woman who was supporting R. Kelly accused Parks and co. of denying her the right to eat chicken and ribs and get high blood pressure. The large woman throws what is left of her chicken leg at Parks, which hits her and knocks her down. The scene was removed just before the episode aired out of respect for Rosa Parks and her family (Parks had died just weeks before, but can be seen on the season one DVD of The Boondocks). Interestingly enough, you can still see Rosa Parks at the end of the episode as the camera pans across the revelers at the end of the trial when she is hugged by the large R. Kelly fan who threw the chicken at her. She is wearing a pink coat with a matching hat and a walking cane.

Trivia

The blind man in Ruckus's flashback bears a close resemblance to John Witherspoon's character in Soul Plane.

Cultural references

File:R Kelly's Lawyer.jpg

R. Kelly's lawyer, voiced by Adam West.

• In the mob riot scene between R. Kelly's supporters, a man can be heard twice yelling "Shoryuken" (Japanese for "rising dragon punch"), the name of perhaps the most infamous special move used by Ansatsuken masters Ken and Ryu from the popular Capcom fighting game franchise Street Fighter.
• R. Kelly's lawyer (voiced by Adam West) is a parody of William Kunstler, the civil rights lawyer known for taking unpopular civil rights cases.
• "Don’t let all this trial business turn you off of white women" is a reference to one of the comic strips, which can be found here.
• Two of the protesters against R. Kelly bears a striking resemblance to African-American intellectual Cornel West and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
• R. Kelly's quote, "Injustice anywhere is an injustice anywhere" is not a quote of Sister Souljah's, as he claims, but a corruption of the quote, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," by Martin Luther King, Jr.