R Kelly’s Jailhouse Friendship With Alleged Subway Shooter Frank James

In today’s episode of Y’all Better Not Turn This Sh*t Into A Reality Show, it turns out disgraced R&B icon and convicted sex trafficker R Kelly has become jailhouse BFFs with accused Brooklyn, New York, subway shooter Frank James.

That’s right, good people, a known sex abuser who was once heralded as the King of R&B and a Black man accused of engaging in a mass shooting have become jailhouse Bert and Ernie—and my 2022 bingo card continues to be way off.

Both men are currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, where Kelly is awaiting sentencing for sex trafficking and James, who was indicted on federal terrorism charges last Friday, is awaiting trial for the subway shooting that occurred on April 12.

“Both do get along. They actually sit together and eat together,” a source told NY Daily News. “They talk about TV shows. They go out to rec together. They’re buds.”

Who knows what these men have in common besides the fact that one has been convicted of human trafficking and the other allegedly shot up a place where humans go to avoid traffic, but, apparently, these two unlikely comrades have found peace in each other’s company.

Source: Chicago Tribune / Getty

From the Daily News:

The two men are in a unit at the troubled lockup that also houses government cooperators, since both are high-risk inmates, sources confirmed. James has a bunkmate, while Kelly has his own room, a source said.

Despite their uncertain futures — both could spend the rest of their lives in prison — James and Kelly manage to find some solace behind bars.

In his few weeks in the jail, James has not been much of a complainer and drinks copious amounts of coffee, said one of the sources. Kelly, meanwhile, uses his music to lift spirits, numerous sources said.

And not only is Kelly in jail befriending mass shooting suspects, but he’s apparently giving impromptu concerts to people visiting the MDC. The Daily News reported that he recently silenced a crowd in the jail’s visiting room so he could give them an acapella performance of “I Believe I Can Fly.” (Hopefully, after sentencing, he’ll be spending his whole life not being able to touch anything higher than the ceiling of his prison cell—let alone the sky.)

Anyway, Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, appears to be trying to downplay her client’s association with James.

“Mr. Kelly is not in control of who he is housed with,” Bonjean said. “A friend is someone you voluntarily hang out with.”

Source: Gotham/GC Images / Getty

Imagine your client is pied predator R Kelly and you’re afraid his friendship with another inmate is going to make him look bad. If anything, James’ attorney should be taking his client to the side and saying, “Bruh, have you seen Surviving R Kelly? Are you sure you want to be caught spotting that n****a on the bench press?”

Kelly’s prison life is looking more and more like the worst episode of HBO’s Oz ever. SMH.