The legal conflict between Ray J. and the Kardashian-Jenner family added a new chapter on November 13, when the singer—whose real name is William Ray Norwood Jr..— filed a formal response and a cross-complaint in the defamation process initiated by kim kardashian and Kris Jenner.
In his presentation, the artist denies all of the accusations against him and maintains that the complaint constitutes “a public relations maneuver” full of “malicious falsehoods about Norwood” that, in his opinion, does not seek to repair reputational damage, but rather serves the purposes of “publicity, power and punishment.”
The 44-year-old rapper accuses the 45-year-old socialite and her 70-year-old mother of breach of contract for allegedly violating provisions of a settlement agreement signed in 2023 for six million dollars.
Said agreement would have been reached after a previous dispute related to the famous intimate video recorded in 2003 and released in 2007 by the production company Vivid Entertainment, which for two decades has accompanied the public narrative of both parties.
As if that were not enough, Ray J. states that kim kardashian and Kris Jenner They took this new legal action “to feed their insatiable thirst for attention, obtain support for their various media and marketing companies, and demand retaliation,” and maintain that their annoyance is due to the fact that “Norwood no longer wants to play along with their implausible story.”
Therefore, in addition to requesting that the lawsuit against him be dismissed, he is demanding one million dollars in damages, plus interest, legal fees and any other solution that the court deems appropriate.
The information, initially revealed by TMZindicates that Ray J. He maintains that the recording of the intimate video was consensual and that, around 2006, both parties discussed the possibility of making it public.
According to the cross-complaint, Kim insisted that Kris supervise the distribution of the material. The document also notes that the three—Ray J, Kardashian and Jenner—signed licensing agreements with Vivid Entertainment before the official release in 2007.
One of the central points of the lawsuit concerns the allegation that “Kardashian, Jenner and Vivid agreed that Kardashian would file a false lawsuit.” alleging that she had not consented to the distribution, in order to generate anticipation prior to the launch.
Ray J. also maintains that kim kardashian and Kris Jenner They leaked information to TMZ about a false five million dollar agreement with the production company. In his statement, he states that for twenty years Kardashian would have taken every opportunity to reinforce a “false ‘victim’ narrative” around the video.
The musician also points out that, in 2022, the family would have “created a new controversy over a fake sex video.” to promote the premiere of his series on Hulu, The Kardashians.
The cross-complaint indicates that the program stated that the rapper provided alleged additional material to a former representative and that he had sexually assaulted the socialite while she was sleeping, claims that he rejects.
The document adds that Kim, Kris, Kendall Jenner and Ye would have stated that Ray J. He tried to extort them with a laptop that would contain another unpublished video.
According to the court filing, Ray J contacted kim kardashian on Instagram in April 2022 to confront her about what was said on the program, and she would have asked him to collaborate with “another false story” to show that they were both working with Vivid to remove the video from the internet, a proposal that he claims to have rejected.
After that conflict, the parties reached an agreement in April 2023. The musician maintains that, in addition to the payment, the plaintiffs committed that there would be no “additional mention or public reference” to the video in the series, under penalty of one million dollars for each violation.
The alleged violations would have occurred when, in the third season of The Kardashiansreleased in May 2023, new references were made to the topic. Ray J. claims that Kardashian and Kris Jenner They attempted to modify the agreement to exempt themselves from liability for statements already recorded but issued later, a proposal that he rejected.
In October, both sued him for defamation over comments he made on TMZ and Twitch, comparing his conduct to cases involving Sean “Diddy” Combs. The musician alleges that he was unaware that his comment on Twitch was being broadcast live and describes his statements on TMZ as a simple “aside.”
Attorney Alex Spiro, representing Kardashian and Jenner, responded to the cross-complaint by calling it a failed attempt to distract from the ongoing process. As he expressed, “Ray J will also lose this frivolous case.”
