Because of the fame, it brought Kim Kardashian and Ray J in the days before social media, we always imagined that their sex tape from 2007 was quite profitable. And it ended up that our first guesses were correct.
TMZ just found an email from the tape’s early days, showing how much money it made in its first weeks. After reaching a deal with adult distribution giant Vivid Entertainment, Kardashian and Ray J quickly began making significant sums of money.
Kris Jenner, the matriarch of the Kardashian family, recently addressed (and refuted) the claim that she was behind it all while linked to a lie detector for a moment on late-night television, fueling years of speculation over how the tape truly made it to the public. Seeing this, Ray J increased his assertions that Jenner had been complicit in the dissemination of the footage from the beginning, an assertion that the Kardashians and Vivid’s chief Steve Hirsch have all categorically refuted.
What we do know for certain is that Kardashian sued Vivid about a month before the tape was released and that the case was settled out of court around a month and a half after the film was released, in April of 2007.
Now, TMZ has access to an email Hirsch sent to Kardashian shortly after the settlement was made, in which he brags about the success of the tape and attaches copies of the contracts signed by Kardashian and Ray J.
The first six weeks of “Kim Kardashian, Superstar debut “reportedly brought in a little over $1.4 million. Totaling exactly $1,424,636.63.
The DVD sales drove the bulk of the revenue, totaling $1,255,578.50.
Sales of the DVD version of the film accounted for the bulk of the profit, totaling $1,255,578.50.
Ray J’s prior claims that he and Kardashian earned $400,000 for the tape plus a 12.5% cut of future sales are also reflected in the records.
Even though these millions of dollars were made in the first few days after the tape was released, sales remained increasing for years. Ray J said in November 2014 that the iconic home video was the main reason he made $90,000 every three months from Vivid. That comes to an annual rate of $360,000. Whenever Kim appeared in the media, the number would skyrocket.
It’s worth noting that Kris Jenner isn’t mentioned in either the email or the contract, implying that she had nothing to do with the sale of the footage either before or after Kim filed suit.
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