Ray J is no stranger to unfiltered moments, but the R&B singer and reality TV personality may have just let it all hang out in more ways than one. In responding to a bombshell $50 million lawsuit brought against sports commentator Shannon Sharpe by an anonymous woman who has accused Sharpe of rape and sexual assault, Ray J offered to share unwarranted, disturbing personal details about his own sex life.
Sharpe, a former NFL player who has become a popular television talk show host, faces serious accusations. The plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe, has accused Sharpe of being a rapist and an abuser even though Sharpe’s team insists the two engaged in a consensual, BDSM-influenced relationship. The lawsuit has brought a ton of attention, and now, with TMZ Sports stating that the two apparently had BDSM sex roughly 100 times, there’s already some lurid behind-the-scenes gossip. Yet Ray J’s unsolicited shots have only fueled the fire, not the one he or anyone else had anticipated.
Ray J’s comments came during a livestream where he abruptly launched into a tale about a former sexual experience with his estranged wife, Princess Love. The singer detailed being placed in a” bondage room” while on set for Love & Hip Hop, saying, “I had the ball in my mouth, pause, they had me tied up, and she was whipping me and beating me and sh*t […] I’m like ‘Look, I don’t do all that.” The confession was shocking not only for its contents but for its timing. Ray J not only raised his own experience with kinks, he used it as an opening to talk about Sharpe’s purported BDSM relationship with his accuser. Implying the two incidences were similar, Ray J suggested the public might be overreacting.
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It’s unclear whether he meant to defend Sharpe or distract from Sharpe, but netizens were quite shocked by his comments. His remarks were widely condemned as tone-deaf in light of unfolding audio that reportedly featured Sharpe threatening the woman he accused of choking. Accuser’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, has already released a statement condemning Sharpe’s efforts to distance himself from the lawsuit, “Someone should tell Mr. Sharpe that when you are digging yourself a hole, it would be smart to stop digging.”
And the involvement of Ray J, however peripheral, speaks to a troubling aspect of using serious allegations to bid for self-promotion or shock value. Sharpe denies any wrongdoing and has pledged to defend himself in court, but the circus around the case is getting messier by the day. His legal team, including lawyer Lanny J. Davis, released a strong statement rejecting her accusations of rape and forced sex, instead calling the suit “an egregious attempt at blackmail.”
By comparison, Ray J’s diversion into his bedroom drama makes the significance feel ludicrous. It’s tempting to dismiss his comments as just more classic Ray J antics oversharing, overdramatizing, and clout chasing, but this time is different as his statement reads particularly off. The severity of the allegations against Sharpe requires more than to have been wrapped in a kooky storyline of whips and gags and reality TV flashbacks. While the spectacular lawsuit grinds on, the focus should be maintained on the facts, evidence, and the ends of justice, not silly little sex stories, and viral sidebars. Whether Ray J knew it or not, his commentary was an irrelevatory muddying of already-troubled waters.
