R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: DeRo — Hero or Zero?

Being a music writer gets you free concert tickets, backstage passes, and of course, tons of chicks. But can it get you out of testifying in court?

Jim DeRogatis (pictured) hopes so. Six years ago, the Chicago Sun-Times rock critic and agitpunk drummer received a copy of the alleged R. Kelly sex tape in the mail and gave it a response even more scathing than the Hootie and the Blowfish review that got him fired from Rolling Stone: he called the cops. Now Kelly’s defense team, which is trying to determine where the tape came from — and whether it was doctored — wants DeRo to take the stand.

The Sun-Times is fighting the subpoena, claiming DeRogatis is shielded by the Illinois Reporter’s Privilege Act. Kelly’s lawyers have responded that child pornography is not protected by the First Amendment. In addition, they say, DeRogatis stepped beyond his reporter's role and committed a felony by playing the tape for former Kelly backup singer/femme fatale Stephanie “Sparkle” Edwards — four days after turning over a copy to police.

“He kept a copy of it,” said Marc Martin, an attorney for Kelly. “Somehow, he had a copy of alleged child porn.”

Damon Dunn, an attorney for the Sun-Times, called that argument an “oxymoron,” since the defense is insisting the tape is a Forrest Gump-like concoction pasting Kelly’s image into a situation where the singer could never have appeared: in his own basement, having sex with a teenage girl who started driving a PT Cruiser shortly after she met him.

“These guys are arguing that the tape’s a fake,” Dunn said in an interview outside the courtroom. “Under the Supreme Court, that’s not a crime. If DeRogatis committed a crime, it would be he snuck into R. Kelly’s house, convinced him to stage it, and distributed it to half of Oak Park” — the suburb where the teenager lived.

Kelly’s team is also seeking to discredit Sparkle, who testified that DeRogatis told her “the tape was mysteriously dropped off in his mailbox.”

Judge Vincent Gaughan will rule on the subpoena May 30.