NEED TO KNOW
Ray-J filed a response and cross-complaint to Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner’s defamation lawsuit over his and Kardashian’s sex tape.
In his Nov. 13 filing, Ray J — a.k.a William Ray Norwood Jr. — accused Kardashian, 45, and Jenner, 70, of breach of contract for allegedly violating provisions of a $6 million settlement agreement they entered into in 2023 over the sex tape.
He also denies all of Kardashian and Jenner’s defamation suit allegations, calling it “a public relations charade” filled with “malicious falsehoods about Norwood” that is “not about defamation” but “about publicity, power and punishment.”
Ray J, 44, claims Kardashian and Jenner are suing him “to feed their insatiable appetite for attention, garner support for their various media and marketing enterprises, and exact retribution,” adding, “They are furious that Norwood no longer wants to play along with their tall tale.”
He is asking that their suit be dismissed and, citing terms of the alleged agreement and damage to his business prospects, is seeking $1 million in damages plus interest, attorneys’ fees and “further relief” that may be deemed “just and proper.”
TMZ was first to report news of the lawsuit.
Ray J claims that the sex tape, recorded in 2003, was filmed consensually and that he and Kardashian began discussing releasing it publicly in 2006. He further claims that Kardashian insisted that Jenner oversee the video’s release.
According to the cross-complaint, Ray J, Kardashian and Jenner all signed licensing agreements with adult entertainment company Vivid Entertainment, which released the video in 2007.
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Ray J’s complaint also alleges that “Kardashian, Jenner, and Vivid agreed that Kardashian would file a bogus lawsuit” claiming she didn’t “intend, authorize or consent” to its distribution “to create buzz ahead of the tape’s release.” The claims against Vivid “were lies,” alleges Ray J, who accused Kardashian and Jenner of leaking news of a fake $5 million settlement between them and Vivid to TMZ.
“For the next two decades, Kardashian took every opportunity to draw attention to herself and painstakingly weave a false ‘victim’ narrative around the Sex Tape,” Ray J’s lawsuit states.
The filing claims the Skims founder and her mother “manufactured a fresh fake Sex Tape ‘controversy’” to “generate publicity” for the premiere of their Hulu series The Kardashians in April 2022. On the show, the complaint claims that Kardashian said Ray J gave their leaked sex tape “which she knows he never possessed,” to his “former manager” and that he “sexually assaulted her” while she slept.
According to the lawsuit, Kardashian, Jenner, Kendall Jenner and Kardashian’s ex-husband, Ye (a.k.a. Kanye West) also made statements on the show, accusing Ray J of extorting them for a laptop supposedly containing an additional unreleased sex tape.
Ray J states that he messaged Kardashian on Instagram in April 2022 to “confront her” about the remarks made about him on The Kardashians. “Kardashian begged him to go along with yet another false ‘story’ that she wanted to run on the show: that they were working with Vivid to remove the Sex Tape from the internet,” per the cross-complaint, which alleges that Ray J “declined.”
When Ray J subsequently sued Kardashian and Jenner over the statements, the trio reached a settlement in April 2023, per the filing. According to the cross-complaint, Kardashian, Jenner and their production company allegedly agreed to pay Ray J $6 million and “to ‘ensur[e] that no further mention or public reference’ to the sex tape is made on The Kardashians, and any further disparagement entitles Norwood to $1 million in liquidated damages.”
Ray J alleges that the agreement was broken when Kardashian, Jenner, Kendall and Ye made statements about the sex tape on The Kardashians during the show’s third season, which premiered in May 2023 — one month after the settlement was reached.
Kardashian and Jenner then sought to modify the agreement to release them from liability for “‘public statements’ that ‘were made but not publicized until after the Effective Date,’” according to Ray J’s cross-complaint. Ray J disagreed.
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Kardashian and Jenner went on to sue him for defamation in October over public comments he made in May and September this year on TMZ and Twitch, respectively, comparing their alleged behavior regarding the sex tape to RICO charges that were leveled against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Ray J claims he did not know his “off-camera” remark on Twitch was being live-streamed and says his comment on TMZ amounted to an “aside.” He adds that if his statements “constitute a breach,” the breaches were not material and were “excused” by Kardashian and Jenner’s alleged “material breaches.”
Alex Spiro, lawyer for Kardashian and Jenner, responded to Norwood’s countersuit in a statement provided to PEOPLE.
“After realizing he is losing the case and losing his way, this disjointed rambling distraction is not intimidating anyone,” Spiro says. “Ray J will lose this frivolous case too.”
