The Boy Scouts of America is filing for bankruptcy following hundreds of lawsuits related to sexual abuse allegations.

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CNN, citing a court document filed in Delaware bankruptcy court, reported the news on Tuesday, as noted by Complex.

The Boy Scouts of America lists their liabilities at $100 million and $500 million, with an estimated $50,000 or less in assets.

Attorney Paul Mones, who represents a number of the alleged victims, called the bankruptcy a “tragedy.”

“These young boys took an oath,” he began. “They pledged to be obedient, pledged to support the Scouts and pledged to be honorable. Many of them are extremely angry that that’s not what happened to them and the Boy Scouts of America did not step up in the way they should have.”

Jim Turley, National Chair of the Boy Scouts of America, released an open letter to the community earlier this week:

“The fact is that predators harmed innocent children in Scouting programs, and for this I am deeply sorry,” Turley said. “The BSA cannot undo what happened to you, but we are committed to supporting you and to doing everything in our power to prevent it from happening to others. It is a social and moral responsibility that I and the entire organization take extremely seriously.”

It’s been one year since the public finally caught on to all of the disgusting crimes that R. Kelly has been accused of, which were presented concisely through the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries on Lifetime. The multi-episodic documentary included testimonials from some of his alleged victims, including his ex-girlfriend Kitti Jones. Telling her story on Surviving, Jones was a guest on Dr. Oz where she continued explaining just how dangerous her former partner is, detailing all that went on during her life with him. Revealing that she was slapped, kicked, and starved until she passed out, Jones recalled some of the “graphic” things he would force her to do while having sex, including some scenes that mirrored his own sexual abuse.

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R. Kelly was sexually abused at a young age and, in a new interview with Dr. Oz, Kitti Jones says that he actually enjoyed playing out memories from his own abuse. “Later in the relationship, there were things that he would ask me to do to him, sexually, that I connected to the abuse,” says 41-year-old Jones on the episode, which airs later today. “And that’s when I would feel really ill doing it to him because I knew where it was coming from. It was some pretty graphic things.”

The disgraced artist was abused as a child by “a man in the neighborhood,” also allegedly being preyed on by his older sister. Listen to Kitti Jones’ account of the situation below.

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Earlier today, it was reported that the New Orleans Saints were being investigated for their alleged role in helping the Catholic Church clean up recent reports of sexual abuse amongst members of the New Orleans clergy. Owner Gayle Benson is a devout Catholic and it was discovered that team executives were allegedly giving the church public relations advice in relation to the sexual abuse allegations.

As of right now, the Saints are trying to keep any e-mails between themselves and the church, private. This could prove to be a tall task as some feel like the e-mails are of the public interest. In a statement on their team website, the Saints cleared up some misconceptions and even condemned the church for their role in any alleged sexual abuse.

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Per Saints:

“While there is current litigation relative to the New Orleans Archdiocese and clergy sex abuse, our comments are limited only to the scope of our involvement. The New Orleans Saints organization has always had a very strong relationship with the Archdiocese. The Archdiocese reached out to a number of community and civic minded leaders seeking counsel on handling the pending media attention that would come with the release of the clergy names in November of 2018. Greg Bensel, Senior Vice President of Communications for the New Orleans Saints, was contacted and offered input on how to work with the media. The advice was simple and never wavering. Be direct, open and fully transparent, while making sure that all law enforcement agencies were alerted. The New Orleans Saints, Greg Bensel and Mrs. Gayle Benson were and remain offended, disappointed and repulsed by the actions of certain past clergy. We remain steadfast in support of the victims who have suffered and pray for their continued healing.”

In the coming weeks, a judge will rule on whether or not the e-mails will be released. In the meantime, stay tuned as we will be sure to bring you updates on this developing story.

Disturbing news is coming out of the NFL today as the Associated Press is reporting that the New Orleans Saints are going to court to keep private e-mails from going public. What makes these private e-mails so disturbing is the fact that they are in connection with New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese which has been accused of numerous sexual abuse scandals. According to the report, team executives allegedly helped the archdiocese in covering up some of the crimes while providing public relations aid.

“Obviously, the Saints should not be in the business of assisting the Archdiocese, and the Saints’ public relations team is not in the business of managing the public relations of criminals engaged in pedophilia,” attorneys said. “The Saints realize that if the documents at issue are made public, this professional sports organization also will be smearing itself.”

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The archdiocese is also looking to keep these e-mails private. Saints officials have called these claims “outrageous” and are adamant they never helped the church in such a way. The team’s owner, Gayle Benson, is known as a devout Catholic and has ties to the church. In addition, it has been said that the e-mails sent to the church have NFL.com domains. 

As of right now, the NFL has yet to comment on the case. In the coming weeks, the court will hear arguments over whether or not these documents should be released for public consumption. Should these e-mails be released, the Saints could be in a whole heap of trouble.

Stay tuned for updates as we will be sure to bring them to you.

“Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning,” the sequel to the docuseries, “Surviving R. Kelly” that premiered on Lifetime last year, has arrived, and plenty has been revealed about the singer’s alleged sexual abuse. The first series premiered last January, and played a huge role in Kelly’s following arrest for allegations of sexual abuse that have been around for decades. Both the first and second parts of “Surviving R. Kelly” centre the victims and their stories, allowing them to give their own personal accounts of the abuse they claim to have faced at the hands of R. Kelly, but there are also some stories told by those who were part of Kelly’s inner circle, including his brothers.

On the premiere episode of “The Reckoning,” Kelly’s brother, Carey and Bruce, described a situation in which they were exposed to a grown man’s genitals when they were kids. The Kelly brothers had a neighbour named Mr. Henry, who became “increasingly sexual with them over time.” In one instance, he walked around half-naked in front of them and pulled his penis out. As the three brothers ran out of the house, Mr. Henry told them no to tell anyone. R. Kelly’s ex-wife, Andrea Kelly, confirms this story, saying that her ex-husband has confided in her about similar instances of assault in the past.

While this awful situation happened to all three brothers, Carey and Bruce claimed that Mr. Henry tried more “inappropriate things” with R. Kelly, before their mother found out and called the police. The neighbourhood gave Mr. Henry a punitive beating after word spread about his abuse, but Mr. Henry eventually bribed the Kelly brothers’ mother with $5,000 if she agreed not to go to court, which she accepted. The brothers also indicate that Kelly was molested by a female family member years later, which Kelly has attested to as well. They said this childhood sexual abuse changed him forever. While tragic, this of course does not excuse Kelly for the abuse he’s been accused of perpetrating himself for decades.