The judge in R Kelly’s child pornography trial threatened to order the arrest of a Chicago reporter who failed to appear in court Tuesday and ultimately issued an order for him to appear Wednesday.

Jim DeRogatis, the Chicago Sun-Times journalist who received the sex tape at the heart of the child pornography charges against R&B singer R Kelly, failed to appear in court Tuesday as scheduled.

Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan rejected arguments from the Chicago Sun-Times lawyers that DeRogatis’ rights as a reporter would be violated if he were ordered to testify, reports the Associated Press.

Gaughan replied the music critic would not appear “as a reporter” but “as a material witness to a crime.”

Gaughan issued a new order for the journalist to be in court Wednesday and said DeRogatis would face contempt charges if he did not appear when expected. The judge even said he would consider ordering his arrest.

DeRogatis is the Chicago Sun-Times journalist who in 2002 anonymously received the controversial sex tape allegedly featuring Kelly engage in sexual contact with an underage girl. He turned it over to the police.

Kelly was subsequently charged with child pornography. He has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of child pornography.

Prosecutors said the tape had been made between 1998 and 2000. The girl is believed to have been as young as 13 at the time the video was made. Both Kelly and the alleged victim deny it is them in the video.

Kelly faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted.

“If he testifies as a reporter, it would be a serious breach of his statutory rights and his constitutional rights,” Sun-Times attorney Damon Dunn told Gaughan in court on Tuesday

Gaughan said defense attorneys cannot ask DeRogatis about his sources. Kelly’s attorneys have said they wish to ask the reporter whether he made a copy of the tape and watched it with a relative of the alleged victim.