A court has turned down Kim Kardashian‘s bid to keep details of a $6 million settlement with Ray J behind closed doors.
The deal relates to legal barbs exchanged by the two sides after Kardashian, in an episode of The Kardashians in 2022, accused Ray J of trying to extort her with a second sex tape and raping her while she was asleep. He threatened to sue the reality TV star-turned-activist and businesswoman, which resulted in the settlement.
Last year, Kardashian and Ray J, whose real name is Ray Norwood Jr., reignited their legal battle when the singer suggested on a livestream video that his onetime sex partner and her mom were involved in an illegal criminal enterprise and were going to be charged by the government. Kardashian sued for defamation, accusing him of trying to exploit her fame. The lawsuit points to a moment in the TMZ documentary on Sean “Diddy” Combs when Ray J is heard saying, “If you told me the Kardashians were being charged for racketeering, I might believe it.” He later said in a video widely shared on the internet, “The feds are coming, there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s worse than Diddy.
Kardashian’s lawsuit resulted in a cross complaint from Ray J, who said that she violated the terms of the 2023 settlement barring either side from discussing the sex tape. Kardashian promptly moved to seal court documents filed by the singer, arguing their highly confidential.
In the March 30 ruling, L.A. Superior Court Judge Steven Ellis found that the right of public access matters more than Kardashian’s privacy. He concluded that Kardashian has “presented no admissible evidence that disclosure of the settlement agreement and its terms would cause them any harm.”
The two sides have a long history. They dated in the 1990s, with the couple leaking a sex tape that launched Kardashian’s career. In a court declaration, Ray J said he “fell out with the entire Kardashian family” after his ex-girlfriend’s family incurred $850,000 in charges to his credit cards, which resulted in another lawsuit.
