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Is R Kelly really THAT broke? Disgraced singer trolled over negative $2M net worth

In 2019, Kelly spent three nights in jail because he was apparently unable to come up with the $100,000 he needed to post to be released

Disgraced singer, songwriter, and record producer R Kelly’s net worth has become a subject of ridicule on social media. “Yall…. Google R Kelly’s net worth & come back. RT if you got more money than him,” read a viral tweet that had more than 22,000 retweets and more than 4,000 quoted tweets, and around 1,000 replies at the time of writing this. 

A lot of tweets cited Celebrity Net Worth, a popular website that lists the wealth of actors, musicians, athletes, and politicians. As per the website, Kelly's net worth is negative $2 million. Is there any truth to this claim? Possibly.

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According to an IBTimes report from earlier this year, Kelly was worth at least $100 million at the peak of his career, but by 2019, he reportedly had less than one percent of this amount. In fact, As per an April 2020 TMZ scoop, Kelly’s lawyers filed legal documents arguing the singer owed a whopping $1,878,737.43 to the IRS. This came after prosecutors insisted Kelly has the means to escape the country, claiming he's already made more than $200,000 in royalties that year alone. Kelly's lawyers argued that those royalties were likely the gross amount before agents and other people took their cuts.

Kelly has sold over 75 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. Billboard also named him the top R&B/hip hop artist between 1985 and 2010 and the most successful R&B artist in history. But Kelly’s musical success was accompanied by a slew of allegations over the years that revolved around child sexual abuse, child pornography, and being part of a sex cult. 

In 1998, the artist reportedly paid $250,000 as settlement fees to a woman named Tiffany Hawkins, who alleged her sexual relationship with him began when she was 15. Kelly also reportedly settled out of court for undisclosed sums lawsuits filed against him by a former intern at Epic Records in 2001 and two more women in 2002. 

In 2019, during his interview with Gayle King on ‘CBS This Morning’, Kelly claimed he had around $350,000 left in his bank account. “So many people have been stealing my money. People was connected to my account,” he alleged. “I didn’t know what I was doing, didn’t know what the hell was going on. I was so tired of not knowing where my money was. A lot of it’s on me.”

In ‘I Admit’, a 19-minute song by Kelly released on SoundCloud on July 23, 2018, the singer addressed many allegations against him. But the song also saw him claim that he signed his publishing rights away early in his career. Kelly described himself as a “broke a** legend”, saying that “the only reason I stay on tour is ’cause I gotta pay my rent”. He also reveals that he had to borrow millions from his label adding that there were times when he “couldn’t put food on the table”.

Kelly also said in the song, “I was told I had to sell my cars, I was told I couldn’t get a loan. Said I owed 20 million to the IRS and they were coming to get my home… I admit I was feeling stupid, staying in the Homewood Suites… Sippin’ Hennessy, tryna figure out what happened to me”.

In 2019, it was reported that Kelly spent three nights in jail because he was apparently unable to come up with the $100,000 he needed to post to be released. The amount, 10 percent of a $1-million bond, was finally paid by a 47-year-old woman identified as “a friend’’ in court documents.

At the time, Lisa Alter, a music attorney and founding partner of the New York-based firm, Alter, Kendrick and Baron, said, "Is money still being generated? Yes. Is it going to him? I don't know, adding that Kelly might not be receiving that income if he's committed it as security for a loan. However, "he's getting royalties from different sources, from his performing rights associations, from his record label, and from his music publishing.”