Ray J's "ChatGPT Told Me" Defence Rejected: Kardashian-Jenner Defamation Lawsuit Heads to Trial
A Los Angeles judge has rejected Ray J's attempt to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought by Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner, clearing the case for trial in 2028.
Judge Steven A. Ellis of the Los Angeles County Superior Court ruled on Tuesday, August 11 that the lawsuit could proceed, denying Ray J's motion to throw it out under California's anti-SLAPP statute — a law designed to swiftly dismiss lawsuits that chill free speech, but which requires plaintiffs to show their case has at least minimal merit to survive it. Billboard
Kardashian and Jenner allege that Ray J defamed them by falsely claiming, in a TMZ documentary and a Twitch livestream, that they were under criminal investigation for racketeering. The pair filed suit in October 2025, represented by attorney Alex Spiro and a team from the law firm Quinn Emanuel. Billboard
Ray J's defence centred on an unusual source. He argued he genuinely believed the Kardashian family was guilty of racketeering because ChatGPT, the AI chatbot, had told him so. Judge Ellis was unmoved. He wrote that as of Ray J's use of the tool in August and September 2025, ChatGPT was "not a trustworthy or reliable source of legal advice" — or at least, a jury could reasonably find it wasn't. Billboard
Ellis concluded that Kardashian and Jenner had met the burden of showing a probability of producing clear and convincing evidence of "actual malice" — the legal standard requiring that a defamer knew a statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for its truth. That was enough, he ruled, to clear the "minimal merit" threshold and move past the anti-SLAPP stage. Billboard
Ray J had also argued, in earlier filings, that "trolling is not slander." [Courthouse News](https://www.courthosene ws.com/trolling-is-not-slander-ray-j-asks-court-to-dismiss-defamation-suit-brought-by-kim-kardashian/)
The lawsuit runs alongside a tangled countersuit. Ray J separately alleged that Kardashian and Jenner intentionally released a 2007 sex tape featuring him and Kardashian in pursuit of fame — a claim the pair denied as "utterly false and disgusting." In April, Judge Ellis ruled that those sex-tape allegations must be resolved in confidential arbitration, under the terms of a previous settlement agreement, and removed the counterclaims from the courtroom. Billboard
Ray J's attorney Howard King said in a statement on August 12 that the team would "promptly appeal" Ellis's ruling. Billboard
The trial is set for 2028.
