TheCable Fact Check
  • Home
  • Fact Check
  • Fake News
  • Check Am For Wazobia
Reading: FACT CHECK: Photos from R.Kelly ‘prison concert’ are AI-generated
Share
Latest News
Did Tinubu attend same school as Alexander Zingman? Here is what we know
FACT CHECK: No, Nigeria didn’t deploy peace support mission to Israel
FACT CHECK: Did lawmakers skip the national anthem during Tinubu’s Democracy Day speech?
FACT CHECK: Did a military coup oust Paul Biya as Cameroon’s president?
FACT CHECK: Ndume erred. 22 governors didn’t endorse Jonathan in 2015
Rárá, Pope Leo kò bẹ Tinubu kó tú Nnamdi Kanu sílẹ̀ ní àtìmọ́lé
Ḿbà, Pope Leo áyọghị Tinubu kà ọ́ tọ́pụ̀ Nnamdi Kanu nà ǹgá
No, Pope Leo no beg Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu
Advertisement
Aa
TheCable Fact CheckTheCable Fact Check
Search
  • Home
  • Fact Check
  • Fake News
  • Check Am For Wazobia
Follow US

FACT CHECK: Photos from R.Kelly ‘prison concert’ are AI-generated

Claire Mom
By Claire Mom Published April 28, 2023 4 Min Read
Share

Photos from a prison concert reportedly organised by R. Kelly have gone viral on the internet.

In the pictures which surfaced on Twitter on Tuesday, R. Kelly appeared to be performing for a large crowd of incarcerated individuals.

One of the tweets alleging that the concert happened had as much as 6.8m views.

“Is R. Kelly really packing out shows in lockup?” one of the tweets reads.

The tweet had over 56k likes and 8k retweets.

Other similar tweets with high engagement, suggesting that R. Kelly had a show in prison were also seen.

Here are a few examples.

Bruh what?? Is R.Kelly really packin out shows in lockup?? 😂😭 pic.twitter.com/Rww3EAlGUn

— Daniel Marven (@danielmarven) April 25, 2023

We hear R.Kelly still selling out shows in prison. The man sabi music sha. pic.twitter.com/DCaJ77Vlwa

— Naija (@Naija_PR) April 25, 2023

R kelly out here having shows the size of Travis Scott in prison pic.twitter.com/WmtGETdwQP

— k 𖤐ri (@ihykari) April 26, 2023

Rkelly shut down event in Prison, made the crowd go gaga..

Even in jail his music is still loved. pic.twitter.com/FVZoTeCo1F

— B.O.D (@Bod_repuplic) April 25, 2023

R.Kelly Got a Whole Tour in Jail 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/TH9On4DmhV

— Real Nigga Quezzy💯✊🏿 (@QuezzyQuez707) April 27, 2023

In June 2022, R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for sex charges. The 56-year-old singer had been in a protracted legal battle over sexual assault and child pornography allegations since the 1990s. Here are some major events that led to the conviction and eventual sentence of the award-winning musician.

But did R. Kelly really have a concert in prison as widely shared on social media?

VERIFICATION

TheCable subjected the pictures to InVid, a photo and video verification tool, and discovered that each image had been tampered with.

IMAGE 1

R. Kelly

When tampering takes place on an image, the discrete cosine transform (DCT) may be disturbed. Regions that stand out (white or light green) against a black background correspond to tampering. As seen in the analysed image, the outline of R. Kelly and other prison inmates are boldly coloured. Other compression tools also showed that the image has been tampered with.

IMAGE 2

R. Kelly

A ghost algorithm is based on recompressing an image with multiple different qualities and subtracting each of them from the original. The resulting images are post-processed to highlight regions that stand out and are likely to originate from a different source. Images most likely to contain interesting findings such as localised inconsistencies appear white, light green or light blue against a black background. This was the case in the second image subjected to verification.

IMAGE 3

R. Kelly

Each image carries invisible, high-frequency noise that is the result of the capturing process as well as the compression. The discrete wavelet noise algorithm filters the image and calculates the local noise distribution at each part of the image. Regions that differ from the rest of the image are highlighted in a different colour and are likely to originate from other images as seen in the picture of R. Kelly walking alongside fellow inmates.

IMAGE 4

Lastly, the picture showing a large crowd which appeared to be the audience was subjected to the BLOCK algorithm. The algorithm looks for discrepancies and like the other filters, presents tampered regions as white and light green against a dark background.

R.KELLY HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED TO ANOTHER PRISON

On Monday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said the singer was moved last Wednesday from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago to the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina.

Due to the nature of his incarceration, it would be impossible for him to perform a concert for a group of inmates.

VERDICT

The claim is false. The photos depicting R. Kelly had a musical prison concert were generated using artificial intelligence (AI).

TAGGED: fake news, R. Kelly, R.Kelly prison concert, R.Kelly prison transfer

Please send your feedback, claims to fact check and corrections requests to [email protected]

Claire Mom April 28, 2023 April 28, 2023
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Email Copy Link Print
Leave a comment Leave a comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

POPULAR POSTS

Advertisement

Did Tinubu attend same school as Alexander Zingman? Here is what we know

During the launch of the renewed hope mechanisation programme in Abuja on Monday, President Bola…

June 24, 2025

FACT CHECK: No, Nigeria didn’t deploy peace support mission to Israel

A Facebook video purports that Nigeria deployed troops for a joint peace support mission in…

June 24, 2025

FACT CHECK: Did lawmakers skip the national anthem during Tinubu’s Democracy Day speech?

A viral X post claims that Nigeria’s new national anthem was not recited during the…

June 13, 2025

FACT CHECK: Did a military coup oust Paul Biya as Cameroon’s president?

Reports of a military coup in Cameroon ousting President Paul Biya have gone viral on…

June 13, 2025
Advertisement
Advertisement

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Did Tinubu attend same school as Alexander Zingman? Here is what we know

During the launch of the renewed hope mechanisation programme in Abuja on Monday, President Bola Tinubu said Alexander Zingman, a…

Fact CheckTop Stories
June 24, 2025

FACT CHECK: No, Nigeria didn’t deploy peace support mission to Israel

A Facebook video purports that Nigeria deployed troops for a joint peace support mission in Israel. A male broadcaster reporting…

Fact Check
June 24, 2025

FACT CHECK: Did lawmakers skip the national anthem during Tinubu’s Democracy Day speech?

A viral X post claims that Nigeria’s new national anthem was not recited during the Democracy Day event at the…

Fact CheckTop Stories
June 13, 2025

FACT CHECK: Did a military coup oust Paul Biya as Cameroon’s president?

Reports of a military coup in Cameroon ousting President Paul Biya have gone viral on social media. On Tuesday, jimmoexpress37,…

Fact CheckTop Stories
June 13, 2025

CableCheck seeks to provide reliable tools and resources for readers to tackle the menace of fake and misleading materials constantly pushed into the public space from various sources. We monitor the accuracy of claims made in traditional and social media. We also provide a tracker to hold politicians and policymakers accountable for the plans and promises they make to the public. CableCheck is a project of the Cable Newspaper Journalism Foundation (CNJF), supported by the MacArthur Foundation and implemented by TheCable newspaper.

Follow US: 

LINKS

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Non-Partisanship Policy
  • Funding
  • Correction Policy
© Copyright TheCable. All Rights reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?