R. Kelly’s executive assistant, who is accused of standing guard over one of Kelly’s alleged trapped victims, maintains that she did ‘nothing wrong’ while working for the singer – and she wouldn’t do anything differently if she could.
Diana Copeland, Kelly’s assistant of 16 years, told Good Morning America that despite Kelly’s entourage of ‘girlfriends’ and strict house rules limiting their movement, she never suspected the music star of illegal activities and said she would not have been able to stop him even if she did.
Copeland added that she had never seen anyone trapped in the house nor has she ever recruited any woman or girl for the R&B singer.
‘He was R. Kelly, a mega superstar. He needed no help, absolutely no help to recruit women or to get women,’ Copeland said.
Diana Copeland appeared on Good Morning America on Friday to claim that she did not help R. Kelly recruit women and that there was nothing she could have done to stop him
Copeland, Kelly’s former aide, testified that one of his girlfriends made her change into a robe during a 2019 meeting at Trump Tower so Kelly could see that she was not wearing a wire
Kelly, 54, has repeatedly denied accusations that he led a criminal enterprise that sexually exploited women, girls and even boys during a 30-year career
Copeland was named in an ongoing civil complaint by one of Kelly’s alleged victims, who said she was trapped multiple times in one of Kelly’s homes and that Copeland stood guard at the doors so she and other victims could not leave.
Copeland has claimed that she never assisted Kelly in any alleged abuse involving his girlfriends and said she kept her professional live separate from his personal life.
‘My job stops at the threshold of his bedroom door.’
She added that she had never seen anyone under 18 with Kelly.
Copeland said that in Kelly’s three homes, the singer did not want his girlfriends to roam freely in the house and encouraged them to stay in their rooms.
The girlfriends also did not talk to any men other than Kelly nor did they use the bathrooms by themselves.
Copeland said that although she never witnessed Kelly make such a requests, she said it was possible that he instructed them to do so.
Copeland claimed she never saw R. Kelly with any girlfriend under the age of 18
R. Kelly pictured on trial on September 14. Those testifying against Kelly painted the man as a ‘controlling,’ claiming he did not allow his girlfriends to speak to other men
Copeland began testifying in R. Kelly’s trial last week.
Copeland, who worked as an executive assistant for Kelly for 16 years, claimed that when he summoned her to his apartment in Trump Tower in Chicago in 2019, after she had already quit her job, one of the hip hop star’s girlfriends, Jane, made her change into a robe in order to prove that she was not wearing a wire.
‘Jane gave me a robe to put on. She asked me was I wired,’ Copeland told the jury in Brooklyn Federal Court. ‘I was shocked and I said no.’
Copeland said she removed the sweatshirt she was wearing and put on the robe over her tank top.
She said Kelly, 54, facing allegations of sexual abuse, asked her to write a ‘truthful’ letter, stating that he never verbally, physically or mentally abused anyone.
Copeland said in court that what she should have written instead was that she never witnessed him commit abuse.
The ex-aide said that years prior, Kelly had made her write a false confession, claiming that she had stolen money from him.
Copeland testified that she never assisted in the abuse of Kelly’s alleged victims
Under cross-examination, Copeland denied some of the claims that Kelly’s alleged victims had made during the trial, insisting that the women were not required to ask for permission to use the bathroom, were not denied food or locked in rooms for days.
In her testimony last Friday, however, Copeland claimed that a few years before Kelly’s 2019 arrest, the singer asked her why she had let one girlfriend ‘escape’ his apartment.
Copeland painted a portrait of Kelly as a controlling man who would not let his girlfriends ride in an Uber driven by a man.
The former aide said should would have to keep ordering ride-shares until a female driver arrived.
In an effort to limit his girlfriends’ interactions with other men, Copeland testified that he instructed them to turn around in public places, such as stores and elevators, so as not to meet a man’s gaze.
Copeland recounted how one time she inadvertently left Kelly’s girlfriend in an elevator because the woman had turned to face the back wall when a man walked in, and she did not see Copeland leave.
Kelly, pictured, above, allegedly enforced strict house rules to keep his girlfriends in place
The long-time former assistant said she could move about his house relatively freely, but she was expected to knock on walls ‘to make sure that I announced my presence.’
She noted that Kelly expected everyone in his circle to knock on doors before entering: a rule that was put in place by the singer’s ex-wife.
Copeland said that despite countless arguments that led her to quit as Kelly’s assistant several time, she repeatedly went back to working for him because she felt ‘he didn’t have trustworthy employees.’
Copeland claimed that the award-winning singer did not control his bank account, did not know his own Social Security number, and struggled with reading and writing.
Copeland was the fifth former employee of Kelly’s to testify against him since the beginning of the high-profile trial on August 18.
Kelly has repeatedly denied accusations that he led a criminal enterprise that sexually exploited women, girls and even boys during a 30-year career. His lawyers have portrayed his accusers as groupies who are lying about their relationships with him.
At least 10 witnesses have testified at the trial, with the latest introduced in Brooklyn Federal Court as ‘Angela,’ claimed that she once walked in on Kelly performing oral sex on Aaliyah Haughton when the singer was just 12 or 13 years old around 1993.
The witness told the jury that she was just 14 or 15 when she first had sex with Kelly
‘He asked me to climb on top of him,’ Angela said yesterday, adding that there were three other young women in various states of undress in the room with them. ‘I paused for a moment. I was a little startled.’
‘Angles’ said she saw Kelly perform oral sex on Aaliyah when she was just 13 years old aboard a tour bus in the early 1990s
She claimed Kelly asked her to ‘straddle him and ride him.’ She said she did as she was told after putting a condom on Kelly. During the encounter, the singer also allegedly fondled the other young women who were present, according to Vulture.
Angela said she continued seeing Kelly every day for the next few years. She later dropped out of high school and began working as a backup dancer for him.
According to the woman, she and other dancers were expected to have sex with Kelly, reported the New York Daily News.
‘He told us we had to pay our dues. It was a requirement to be around,’ she said.
The witness also recounted how one time she and other women were riding in Kelly’s tour bus and decided to play a prank on him by throwing water on him.
Angela said she went to the back of the bus and slightly opened the door of a bedroom, revealing ‘Robert and Aaliyah in a sexual situation.’
According to the testimony, Kelly was kneeling before the teenage singer and his head was between her legs.
Angela said she then abruptly shut the door and never spoke to Kelly about what she allegedly witnessed.
Aaliyah was about 13 years old at the time of the alleged encounter. Two years later, Kelly, then 27, illegally married the young singer, according to previous testimony. She was killed in a plane crash in 2001 when she was 22 years old.
R Kelly (pictured), now 54, is only now facing criminal charges for alleged sexual assault accusations because he has paid his accusers cash settlements up to $1.5million in exchange for their signatures on nondisclosure agreements (NDAs)
The NDAs were overseen by Susan E Loggans (left), the personal-injury attorney who became the go-to lawyer for accusers to make claims against the disgraced R&B singer since she first filed a civil suit against Kelly on behalf of Tiffany Hawkins (right) in 1996
Prosecutors say Kelly suppressed allegations against him for years by pressuring accusers into signing non-disclosure agreements in exchange for cash settlements. The NDA settlements were overseen by Susan E Loggans, a personal-injury attorney.
But prosecutors in Kelly’s ongoing trial argued that NDAs should not keep victims from speaking out and referred to four other federal cases, including a ruling against Bill Cosby in 2016 when he sued one of his victims Andrea Constand for speaking with prosecutors.
A Brooklyn judge agreed and overturned the NDAs for Kelly’s accusers allowing two of his alleged victims to testify against him, reported The New Yorker.
One victim, called Jane Doe No 4, was the first witness to take the stand on August 18 and said Kelly allegedly began making sexual contact with her in 2009 when she was 16 and he was in his early 40s.
Loggans helped Jane Doe 4 reach a $1.5million settlement agreement with Kelly’s attorneys, in exchange for an NDA.
The other alleged victim, Jane Doe No. 11, told the court she had a consensual sexual relationship with Kelly in 2001, as an adult, and that he knowingly gave her herpes.
She reached a cash settlement with Kelly in 2004 in exchange for the NDA.
Kelly was sketched sitting at the defense table with his lawyer Nicole Blank Becker during his sex abuse trial at Brooklyn’s Federal District Court
The trial started on August 18 and Kelly has since plead not guilty to racketeering and other charges surrounding his abuse of women, girls, and young boys
A Brooklyn judge agreed and overturned the NDAs for Kelly’s accusers allowing two of his alleged victims to testify against him, reported The New Yorker.
One victim, called Jane Doe No 4, was the first witness to take the stand on August 18 and said Kelly allegedly began making sexual contact with her in 2009 when she was 16 and he was in his early 40s.
Loggans helped Jane Doe 4 reach a $1.5million settlement agreement with Kelly’s attorneys, in exchange for an NDA.
The other alleged victim, Jane Doe No. 11, told the court she had a consensual sexual relationship with Kelly in 2001, as an adult, and that he knowingly gave her herpes.
She reached a cash settlement with Kelly in 2004 in exchange for the NDA.