In 2007, shortly before Keeping Up With the Kardashians premiered on E!, Kim Kardashian’s sex tape with ex-boyfriend Ray J was released to the world. The film was purchased and distributed by adult media company Vivid Entertainment.
Over the years, there have been a lot of speculations about who sold the tape to Vivid. According to Ray J, Kardashian had a hand in it.
Kim Kardashian often claimed the tape was leaked without her consent
Kardashian’s sex tape was filmed in 2002 when she and Ray J were dating. When it came out five years later, Kardashian went on to claim that it was released without her consent.
She even sued Vivid and said in a statement (via People), “This tape, which was made three years ago, and was meant to be something private between myself and my then-boyfriend is extremely hurtful not only to me, but to my family as well. I am filing legal charges against the company who is distributing this tape since it is being sold completely without my permission or consent.”
Vivid bought the sex tape for $1 million from an unspecified third party and maintained that the company has “the legal right to distribute this video.”
Kardashian eventually settled the lawsuit, receiving $5 million from Vivid. However, she has since shared that the sex tape is one regret she has in life.
“That is something that I have to live with for the rest of my life. That is something that’s being held over my head,” she said during a 2021 reunion episode of KUWTK. “I try not to have any regrets, but it’s probably the one thing I wish didn’t exist, and if I could erase any of the stupid things that I’ve done in life, that’s probably it.”
Ray J claims he and Kim Kardashian were ‘partners’ in releasing the sex tape
Ray J recently shared his side of the story in an interview with the Daily Mail. According to the singer, Kardashian had a hand in releasing the sex tape.
“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 said. “I’ve never leaked anything. I have never leaked a sex tape in my life. It has never been a leak. 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 alleged that he initially told Kardashian about his idea to release the sex tape, especially after Kardashian’s friend Paris Hilton gained notoriety from releasing hers. The Daily Mail reported that Kardashian eventually got on board and had help from her mother to release it with Vivid Entertainment. Their contract reportedly stated that there would be three videos released, but only one ended up being seen by the public.
In April 2022, the Kardashian-Jenners premiered their new Hulu show, The Kardashians. During the first few episodes, fans watched as Kardashian tried to prevent more clips from the sex tape from coming out. However, according to Ray J, he does not have those videos.
“I never had a tape in my possession in our whole relationship,” Ray J said. “I never had a single one at my house – she had them at her house. She’s always had all the tapes in a Nike shoe box under her bed. I’m sure she has bigger beds now and better boxes. That’s how it all came about. Once I pitched the idea to her, just playing around a little bit, that’s when she jumped on the idea, talked to her mom and it was out of my hands from there.”
Ray J said the sex tape incident affected his career
After the sex tape came out, the Kardashian-Jenner family became superstars. Not only did KUWTK become a huge TV hit, but the individual members of the clan also found successful careers as models and/or business people.
As for Ray J, the singer claimed that his reputation has been damaged by the Kardashian-Jenners.
“As a black man living and working in America, it’s hard to get up every day and look out at the water or look at my family and know that they think something about you when you know it’s 1,000 per cent the other way. How do you live like that?” he said.
Ray J added, “I couldn’t be a part of any reputable major network television show and do Dancing with the Stars, and do America’s Got Talent or anything like that because of my image. Because of what they made me, I’m not allowed to be in those places.”
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