Kim Kardashian and her mom Kris Jenner have lost a bid to keep details of a settlement they reached with Ray J a secret.
The Kardashians stars sued the singer - who was infamously Kim's partner in her 2007 sex tape - for defamation last October after they accused him of waging a decades-long campaign against them with his repeated claims that they are the subject of a federal criminal investigation into racketeering,and he hit back in a countersuit which alleged the pair had violated the provisions of a settlement agreement they reached in 2023 over the sex tape.
Ray had claimed he was paid $6 million to never speak about the sex tape but argued his former lover and her mom had violated the deal by discussing the topic on their reality show.
And now, according to court paperwork obtained by TMZ, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has denied Kim and Kris’ request to seal certain documents, including the terms of the 2023 deal because it was felt they hadn't presented enough evidence that they would be caused harm if the specifics of the settlement were made public.
Kim and Kris' lawyers argued: “The agreement resolved highly sensitive matters that the parties explicitly agreed to keep confidential in order to protect their families from public disclosure and respect these sensitive matters."
Ray had opposed the request and the judge agreed, ordering Kim and Kris to file unredacted versions of the agreement.
The 45-year-old singer's legal team had previously branded the allegations in the Hulu personalities' lawsuit a "public relations charade" filled with "malicious falsehoods" and insisted it is “not about defamation” but “about publicity, power and punishment.”
The One Wish hitmaker alleged the pair have taken legal action “to feed their insatiable appetite for attention, garner support for their various media and marketing enterprises, and exact retribution.
The documents added: “They are furious that Norwood no longer wants to play along with their tall tale.”
Ray has sought for their lawsuit to be dismissed and is also seeking $1 million in damages plus interest, legal fees and "further relief" that may be seen as "just and proper", arguing damage to his business prospects and the terms of the alleged agreement he had made with Kris and her daughter.
The Sexy Can I singer claimed in the lawsuit that he and Kim had consensually recorded their sex tape in 2003 and began discussing releasing it publicly in 2006, and alleged the All's Fair actress insisted her momager oversee its release.
He said the trio all signed licensing agreements with Vivid Entertainment, the adult entertainment company who released the video in 2007 but alleged “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.”
Ray insisted the claims against Vivid "were lies" and accused the pair of leaking news of a fake $5 million settlement to TMZ.
He further claimed 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 2022.
Ray alleged he had messaged Kim on Instagram at the time to "confront her" about the comments on the show.
The legal documents stated: “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."
But he "declined" and subsequently sued Kris and Kim, reaching a settlement in April 2023 in which they and their production company allegedly agreed to pay him $6 million and pledged "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.”
However, Ray insisted the agreement was broken during the show's third season with comments on the show, just a month after the settlement was reached.
In their defamation lawsuit, Kim and Kris took action over comments Ray made on TMZ and on Twitch, but he argued he didn't know his "off-camera" remark on the latter was being life-streamed, while his words to the news outlet were just an "aside".
He insisted that if his statements "constitute a breach", they were not material and should be "excused" by Kim and Kris' alleged "material breaches".
