Kim Kardashian sued over photo identifying man as Texas death row inmate

Kim Kardashian is facing a lawsuit after she posted a photo of New York resident Ivan Cantu and incorrectly identified him as the death row inmate in Texas bearing the same name.

On Feb. 26, 2024, Kardashian posted the photo of the plaintiff to her Instagram story and wrote, in all caps, “The state will executive Ivan Cantu in 2 days,” linking to a petition “to demand that Collin County DA Greg Willis request to withdraw the execution date.”

Kardashian’s attorney, Michael Rhodes, described the incorrect photo as a “simple mistake” in a statement.

“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,” Rhodes said in a statement.

“The image was taken down almost immediately once the error was discovered,” Rhodes added.

But in Ivan Cantu’s lawsuit, the plaintiff’s legal team said the mistake “exposed Cantu to hatred, contempt, and/or ridicule because it falsely alleged that he committed a serious crime and was subject to execution.

“Kardashian published and disseminated false information about Cantu that was clearly untrue, erroneous, unfounded, shocking, scandalous, degrading, disgraceful, and/or shameful,” the lawsuit read.

“Kardashian’s publishing and dissemination of false information about Cantu, an innocent and respectful United States citizen, subjected Cantu to public embarrassment, shame, contempt, hatred, ridicule, aversion, and/or disgrace,” the lawsuit continued.

The plaintiff is suing for libel, slander, intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, portraying him in a false light and negligence. He is suing for damages and demanding a jury trial. The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles on Thursday.

Cantu’s attorney, Greg Sobo, described the plaintiff as a “very private family man with two daughters” and said he was grieving from a private family loss when “Kardashian defamed his reputation.”

“As a result of the Kardashian abuse, Mr. Cantu’s privacy was destroyed at a most critical and sensitive time, and he has suffered very real trauma that will last a lifetime,” Sobo said.

The lawsuit indicates Cantu “suffered serious emotional damage and injury in the form of 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.”

Sobo stressed the power of Kardashian’s vast reach on social media.

“If anyone knows the power of social media, it is Kim Kardashian. Social media helped fuel her fame. For a safer society, Kim Kardashian must be held accountable for her abuse of social media,” Sobo said.

Sobo, in his statement, added: “Mr. Cantu never wanted to litigate this issue. Our several attempts to contact Kim Kardashian and her team have been ignored.”

Kardashian’s attorney, however, said in his statement that they would “prefer to solve this without litigation, but of course will defend Kim as needed.”

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