R. Kelly’s Manager Convicted Of Threat To Shoot Up NYC Theater Hosting Premier Of “Surviving R. Kelly” Series

Courthouse News reports:

Just two and a half hours into deliberations following a two-day trial, a federal jury found onetime R. Kelly manager Donnell Russell guilty on Friday of calling in a shooting threat to sabotage the docuseries premiere of the gut-wrenching “Surviving R. Kelly.”

The conviction carries a maximum sentence of five years for Russell, who did not testify or argue any defense case during the proceedings. He remains free on bail until sentencing slated for Nov. 21 at the lower Manhattan courthouse.

Russell, 47, was indicted in 2020, two years after a New York theater abruptly canceled its plans to premiere the Lifetime docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly” and evacuated the building minutes into the screening because someone had called in a threat.

The New York Post reports:



Throughout the three-day trial, prosecutors showed the panel that Russell made repeated phone calls to the theater that day, threatening legal action and claiming the documentary about the disgraced R&B star violated copyright laws.

When those threats failed, Russell disguised his voice and made the sinister threat call.

“The call was short. The defendant was to the point. And he was terrifying. Someone at the event had a gun and was going to shoot up the place,” Assistant US Attorney Lara Pomerantz said in her opening statement Wednesday.