Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian have filed a defamation lawsuit against Ray J (real name William Ray Norwood Jr.), who they say falsely claimed that the business mogul family is under federal investigation for racketeering.
In the lawsuit, filed by celebrity lawyer Alex Spiro and first reported by TMZ, the Kardashians said Ray J is "unable to accept the end of his fleeting relationship with Ms. Kardashian over 20 years ago."
In the Tubi documentary United States vs. Sean Combs, Ray J said he thinks the Kardashians should face RICO charges.
"If you told me the Kardashians was being charged for racketeering, I might believe it,” the singer said in the doc.
The lawsuit claims Ray J’s comment in the film was “designed to plant the seed.” Ray J later doubled down with his unsubstantiated assertions, claiming the Kardashians were under federal investigation in a Sept. 24 livestream with Chrisean Rock.
“The feds is coming, there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s worse than Diddy,” Ray J said at the time.
Jenner and Kardashian called the claim “blatantly false” and said Ray J’s comments have led to "substantial and ongoing harm to their personal and professional reputation."
Ray J and Kardashian dated from 2003 to 2006 after meeting through the singer Brandy, Ray J’s sister for whom Kardashian was a stylist. While together, the couple filmed a sex tape called Kim Kardashian, Superstar that was released in 2007.
The tape and its fallout was a catalyst for Kardashian’s career, now a business empire made up of brands SKIMS and KKW that have made the 44-year-old a billionaire.
Ray J told Shannon Sharpe last year that “everything would be different” if the sex tape had never been released.
“There might not be any OnlyFans and other things like that,” Ray J said at the time.
In July, he said to Cam Newton that the video was the "worst thing that ever happened to" him, especially now that he has young children.
"It's the worst thing that's ever been put on my name," he said. "It's the most disgusting, the most illegal, and the most distasteful when you have a daughter."
Ray J has two children, born in 2018 and 2020, with his estranged wife Princess Love. Kardashian has been married and divorced twice since dating the singer and has four children with her ex-husband Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West.