Kim Kardashian Sued by Man She Incorrectly Labeled as Death Row Inmate
Kim Kardashian is being sued for defamation after she shared a photo of a New York man on social media and falsely identified him as a death row inmate found guilty of a double murder in Texas.
In a new lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles, Ivan A. Cantu claims Kardashian caused him severe emotional distress and public humiliation when she blasted his name and photo out to her 850 million followers on Feb. 26, 2024, without his consent. In the post, she identified Cantu as the same Ivan Cantu who was scheduled to die by lethal injection two days later. The inmate she meant to post was convicted of the gunshot murders of his cousin and his cousin’s fiancé in Dallas. That Cantu maintained his innocence for more than 20 years, up until his execution on Feb. 28, 2024.
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“Kardashian’s statement was false because Cantu was residing in the state of New York and was not in the state of Texas, had not committed a crime and was not about to be executed,” the new lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone reads. “Kardashian’s statement that Cantu was on death row in the state of Texas for committing murder was untrue and demonstrably false.”
The lawsuit includes a copy of the Instagram post as an exhibit. “The state will execute Ivan Cantu in 2 days,” the post reads. “Please sign the petition to demand that Collin County DA Greg Willis request to withdraw the execution date.”
Kardashian, 44, has become a noted activist in the field of prison reform. She famously lobbied President Trump to commute Alice Marie Johnson’s life sentence linked to a non-violent drug offense and regularly advocates for new trials or clemency for people on death row. Regarding the mixup with the Ivan Cantu photo, her heart was in the right place, despite the error, her lawyer says.
“It was a simple mistake of using the public photo of another man with the same name to promote Kim’s longstanding commitment to the cause of criminal justice reform,” Kardashian’s lawyer Michael Rhodes said in a statement sent to Rolling Stone. “The image was taken down almost immediately once the error was discovered. We’d prefer to solve this without litigation, but of course will defend Kim as needed.”
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In his nine-page complaint that also accuses Kardashian of invasion of privacy and false light, Cantu claims the photo flub caused him “emotional and mental anguish, psychological harm, embarrassment, anxiety, loss of sleep, nightmares, post-traumatic stress, headaches, need for medical care, need for emotional counseling and loss of reputation.”
He’s seeking unspecified damages to be decided at trial. “Kardashian published and disseminated the false information without privilege or authorization, and her acts were intentional, negligent, reckless, and/or violated standards of ethics and decency,” his lawsuit states. “Kardashian’s actions, and that of her employees or agents … were malicious, oppressive and fraudulent, warranting the imposition of punitive damages.”
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