On R Kelly

What an excellent article on R Kelly in the Guardian on Friday by Ben Beaumont-Thomas!
The writer perfectly defines the power of what is probably a psychopathic personality (could be Trump, even: it's that 'outsider' feeling that he's special, and normal rules don't apply to him).
'Fans don't want Kelly to be a paedophile or rapist because that would ruin the music'.
People don't want their heroes to have let them down. They would rather believe endless denials of wrongdoing, even when the truth is staring them in the face.
Here is a true story.
I'll never forget the con man in Brighton who tricked two of my housemates out of their money.
He was dressed as a monk and was Asian. As he sat there drinking tea with them after knocking on the door seemingly at random, he made them feel sorry for him: he had a wooden leg, he said, and was terribly poor and unfortunate. This was awful for a spiritual man like him. He just needed a bit of goodwill to help him get by
Hearts going out to him, they gave him all the money they had between them, and he went on his way expressing his heartfelt gratitude.
Later that week, there was an article in the Evening Argus about him. He was a plausible con man who had played this trick on scores of people.
The housemates felt stupid.
'You know, when he was telling me about his wooden leg I was looking at his legs, and both of them looked perfectly normal, but I still believed him'.
We think we are too clever to be tricked; the story, the music, the charm all break through our resistance and we let people exploit us and then run away without taking the rap for what they've done.
Until....
Well, I hope R Kelly, Trump and everyone else's chickens come home to roost in 2019!
Will it happen?
I don't think so.