The Daily Swarm analyzes an interview transcript between Jim DeRogatis and the singer Sparkle here. In the talk, DeRogatis says he thinks that someone with the initials “B.H.” left him the sex tape that has resulted in child-porn charges against Kelly:

Q. But is it partly that [B.H.] wants revenge for the whole Aaliyah thing? ??

A. I don’t know. I’m sure he would tell ya. He’d have no problem telling you.

Q. He never has. I’m sure that tape came by [B.H.]. Not directly. He’s wondering about the police investigation.

A. My career isn’t a fruitful as his, but…

That’s all exactly as the Sun-Times published the transcript. Kelly’s former manager, whose name is Barry Hankerson, is also the uncle of Aaliyah Houghton, whom Kelly married when she was 15. (Houghton, under the name Aaliyah, would go on to become a big star before dying in a plane accident in 2002.) Hankerson eventually left Kelly’s employ, some years later, writing a letter to his label that said in part that Kelly “needed psychiatric help for his compulsion to pursue underage girls.”

The Daily Swarm had speculated on Hankerson’s likelihood of being the leaker yesterday.

Update: To me, it’s obvious that DeRogatis doesn’t actually know who sent him the tape; in this context “I’m sure” seems to me a synonym for “I think.” I’m still not clear on what the actual relevance to the trial the tape’s provenance is. (It and others had been floating around for years; why focus on the few hours in 2002 that the Sun-Times had possession of a copy of it?) That said, it seems plain that Hankerson would now be someone that the defense would be interested in talking to, based on its contention that the tape has been digitally modified in some way.

Since, as I note above, Hankerson left the singer’s employ because of … what were the exact words … ah, yes, “his compulsion to pursue young girls,” I doubt the defense will bring his ass into court. This also spares Hankerson the ordeal of explaining in public why he continued to work for the singer for years after he married his 15-year-old niece.