Source: Patrick McMullan / Getty
The Kim Kardashian sex tape drama rolls on.
But this time, it’s got nothing to do with the logistics of who set up the contracts, it’s all about the money. TMZ obtained an email from Steven Hirsch — the founder of Vivid Entertainment, the company that distributed the sex tape– revealing how much money it really made.
The email, dated May 1, 2007, explains that it was a 6 figure hit and made $1,424,646 in just the first month of availability. Of course, being that it was 2007, the internet only contributed about $126,000, with over $1.2 million coming straight from DVD purchases.
Kim’s name can clearly be seen as the recipient of the email with a subject that reads “Kim Kardashian Superstar.”
“Hey guys… here’s the first statement.. 1.4m in sales month 1.. I think that’s pretty good..all backup is available by customer pricing etc,” Hirsch writes in the email with a spreadsheet attached.
This further proves that the original story that Vivid obtained the tape from a third party and later leaked it, is likely false and that the Kardashian family had their hands in its release.
Ray J made similar claims on Instagram live over the weekend, where he went on a rant because Kris Jenner appeared to take a lie detector test and say she had nothing to do with the tape’s release.
“I don’t know what the f-ck you think this is, but you have f-cked with the wrong person,” he warned. “Period. You done f-cked with the wrong Black man. I was just gonna handle this shit legally, right, and just hit you in court and just get what I’m deserved from all of y’all being foul and trying to defame me, trying to make me look bad.”
He alleged that there were three sex tapes, and Kris chose to release the one that she thought Kim looked best in, and in the end, they both received a lump sum of $400,000 and 12.5% of the profits after that. That would make the three of them business partners, a claim that he made clear earlier this year.
“I’ve never leaked anything. I have never leaked a sex tape in my life. It has never been a leak,” Ray J said in an interview with Daily Mail in May. “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.”
Kim and Ray J clearly still don’t see eye to eye on the raunchy video, and with it being released over 15 years ago, we may never know the full truth.
