Man testifies R. Kelly sexually abused him when he was 17

A man on Monday said in court that singer R. Kelly used his fame to sexually exploit and groom him, The Guardian reports.

The witness, who didn’t provide his real name, said on the eighth day of Kelly’s New York sexual abuse trial that the abuse occurred when he was in high school. Kelly reportedly asked the man what he was “willing to do” to make his musical aspirations a reality.

The man, who said he was 17 years old at the time, said he offered to carry the R&B singer’s bags, but that Kelly refused that offer, and instead engaged him in unwanted sexual activity.

“He told me to keep [the encounter] between him and me,” the witness said during his court appearance, according to The Guardian. 

The man added that Kelly instructed him to call him “Daddy” and recorded their sexual encounters, according to The New York Times.

He explained that he continued to associate himself with Kelly out of a desire to advance his career.

The man’s testimony is the latest against the singer, and the first to come from a male accuser.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering and eight counts of violating an anti-sex trafficking law and faces decades in prison if convicted.