R. Kelly’s 2008 child pornography trial featured a defense attorney with a Wayans brothers fixation , a key witness attired in a Hypercolor suit , and a CGI montage of headless bodies having sex . At the center of this hurricane of weirdness was a sex tape filmed by Kelly in his one-time residence. “The action takes place in what the prosecution says is the basement of Kelly’s former home, a room that looks a lot like a log cabin,” I wrote back in May 2008. “[T]here is a handful of tall, green potted plants, and the walls appear to be fashioned from gigantic felled trees. No longer will I have to wonder what an Abe Lincoln sex tape might have looked like.”
Though R. Kelly sold the place in 2002, a recent post on the real-estate blog Curbed reveals that the log cabin remains intact. Not only that, this piece of infamous real estate is currently on the market. The asking price: $3.5 million. (Not ready for home ownership? You also have the option of renting the place for $20,000 per month .)
While the house’s Coldwell Banker listing doesn’t mention its famous former owner, the sex tape’s infamous setting is listed as an amenity — potential purchasers are invited to “[r]elax in the full sauna area with knotty-pine walls.” Other perks include five bedrooms and six full bathrooms, an indoor pool, a “1600 gallon aquarium wall,” and “a nearly $7,000 shower head.” Gourmands will also be enticed by the opportunity to double up with “double ovens and separate refrigerator and freezers.”
There is one thing missing from the listing: Kelly’s basketball court . The Looney Tunes-themed gym — the site of another alleged sex act — has seemingly been dismantled. Last year, A.V. Club Chicago reported that the current owner was selling “many items from old R. Kelly house” on Craigslist. Among the items for sale: “a bar table emblazoned with Looney Tunes characters hanging out with, uh, Jessica Rabbit, and a glass-backboard basketball hoop.”
Screengrab from coldwellbankeronline.com.
