R Kelly speaks about porn charges

By Iain Mackenzie
Newsbeat US reporter

R Kelly faced up to 15 years in jail if he'd been convicted

R Kelly's spoken publicly for the first time since being cleared of child pornography charges in America.

The R&B star, 41, said he had come out of the experience stronger and hoped to move on with his life and career.

Asked by Black Entertainment Television (BET) if he had a weakness for teenage girls, he replied: "When you say teenage, how old do you mean?

"I have some 19-year-old friends, but I don't like anyone illegal if that's what we are talking about, underage."

It is three months since a Chicago jury acquitted the star of filming a sex video with an underage girl.

R Kelly described the time leading up to the court case as "like being in prison."

He also claimed that the accusations had come from disgruntled former employees.

Signalling his desire to draw a line under the scandal, R Kelly said "it's time for me to move on. I can't keep answering these questions.

"If you were charged with something and found innocent, then you can't be found guilty for being found innocent".

Court case

The singer, real name Robert Kelly, was charged in 2002 with 21 counts of making and owning child pornography.

Some charges were later dropped.

After a six year delay, he went on trial in his home city of Chicago earlier this year.

The case centred around a sex tape which had turned up in bootleg form before being passed to the authorities.

During the month-long hearing, friends and family members of his alleged victim came forward to identify her as being 13 or 14 years old.

R Kelly's lawyers argued that the tape was a fake, made as part of a conspiracy to extort money from the superstar.

He was ultimately cleared of all the charges against him.

Jury members later said that they thought he was the man on the tape, but couldn't be certain about the identity of the girl because she had not taken the stand.