Back in March, IFC announced that it would be producing more episodes of R. Kelly’s bonkers “Trapped in the Closet” opus. This was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me, because it meant that, going forward, any and all news about R. Kelly would technically be television related, and therefore I would be completely justified in covering whatever insane thing he did here on this television website.
All of that brings me to this: R. Kelly is bad at paying taxes. Like, really bad.
According to America’s most trusted news organization, Kells failed to pay over $1 million in taxes for 2011. When you add that to the almost $5 million in taxes he failed to pay from 2005-2010, that brings his grand total to $6,227,767.82. Six million dollars. Over six years. While my gut reaction as a United States citizen — one who uses roads to get places, and who relies on the services provided by the fire and police departments for safety and protection — is to be furious about this, the fact that someone just flat-out blew off their taxes for six years as though the IRS didn’t even exist is almost too ridiculous to be angry about. I believe this is referred to as the Wesley Snipes Exception.
Anyway, if you were wondering what my favorite part of this story is, it’s this quote…
A rep for Kelly tells TMZ, “He takes this very seriously and is already communicating with the IRS about the payment process to quickly resolve the issue.”
… because nothing says “I take this very seriously” quite like shirking a $6 million obligation to your country in defiance of federal law. NOW LET’S DANCE.
