Kim Kardashian and Ray J’s past relationship has once again made headlines after the singer threatened to sue Kris Jenner over how he’s been treated since the release of his and Kardashian’s sex tape in 2007.
The sex tape made its way back into the spotlight when it was discussed during the famous family’s new reality series, The Kardashians. The musician then accused Kardashian of lying about the unreleased footage on social media. But earlier this week, Kris Jenner denied leaking the video while taking a lie detector test. This prompted Ray J to fire back on social media, claiming he has legal documents proving the release of the tape was orchestrated by the 66-year-old manager.
Here is Ray J and Kim Kardashian’s sex tape drama explained.
In the series premiere of The Kardashians on Hulu and Disney+, Kim Kardashian’s six-year-old son Saint West found a link on the internet that appeared to show unseen footage from the sex tape she shot with her then-boyfriend Ray J in 2003.
During the third episode of the series, Kanye West flew to LA from New York and back to retrieve the hard drive of the unseen sex tape, the night before her Saturday Night Live hosting debut. The rapper – now known as Ye – said he even met at the airport with Ray J himself.
Following the release of the episode, which was filmed in October 2021, Ray J accused the reality star of lying on The Kardashians. Celebrity gossip account Hollywood Unlocked posted a clip from the episode on Instagram, to which Ray J commented, “All of this is a lie smh - Can’t let them do this anymore - so untrue”.
Weeks later, the 41-year-old actor claimed in an interview with the Daily Mail that his meeting with West didn’t happen the way it was portrayed on the show. Ray J revealed that Kardashian was always in possession of the unreleased sex tape footage, and he only held on to photos and texts from their relationship which he later handed over to West.
“I’ve sat in the shadows for over 14 years allowing the Kardashians to use my name, to abuse my name, make billions of dollars over a decade-and-a-half talking about a topic I’ve never really spoken about,” he told the outlet back in May.
The father of two also alleged that Kardashian’s mother, Kris Jenner, had orchestrated the original release of the sex tape in 2007, and changed the narrative portrayed in The Kardashians to make him look worse.
“I’ve never leaked anything. I have never leaked a sex tape in my life. It has never been a leak,” he said. “It’s always been a deal and a partnership between Kris Jenner and Kim and me and we’ve always been partners since the beginning of this thing.”
Ray J claims the SKIMS founder enlisted Kris Jenner to organise the release of the film with production company Vivid Entertainment. The contract, which was signed by both Ray J and Kardashian, called for three videos.
Although only one tape was released, Ray J said Kardashian has held onto the other videos until today. Included in the interview were screenshots from private Instagram DMs between Ray J and Kardashian, in which he writes, “You know what we did. Your mom controlled this whole sex tape deal.”
On 8 September, Kris Jenner appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where she denied releasing the sex tape while taking a lie detector test. “Did you help Kim release her sex tape?” Corden asked the momager, who was attached to the machine.
“No,” she responded, which was then deemed true by the lie detector test.
“Oh, I like that. We cleared that up,” she added.
However, Ray J doubled down on his criticism of Kris Jenner in a series of Instagram posts and livestreams over the weekend. In one video posted on 10 September, Ray J called out Jenner and Kardashian for “defaming” him and trying to “make him look bad”, before deciding that he will be “going through receipts tonight” to prove Jenner’s involvement in the sex tape release.
He captioned the video: “YOU [f***ed] with THE WRONG BLACK MAN krisjenner @kimkardashian”
Ray J then took to Instagram Live that evening, where he shared private messages from his correspondence with Kanye West back in October to retrieve the unreleased sex tape footage, as well as his messages with Kardashian. The singer even claimed that Jenner watched the tape and made the former couple reshoot a video, which was then released, because “it gives my daughter a better look.”
The following night, Ray J continued to show his messages with Kardashian, which occurred after The Kardashians episode premiered in April. The singer also showed screenshots from the contract he signed with Vivid Entertainment in 2007 upon the video’s release. He finished off his Instagram Live by saying, “This ain’t over.”
Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner have not yet issued a response to Ray J’s claims.
