Kim Kardashian and Khloé Kardashian took the stand on Tuesday in the trial against their family, brought on by Blac Chyna, the ex-fiancé of their brother, Rob Kardashian.
Chyna — who starred on E!’s “Rob & Chyna,” which aired for one season in 2016 — is suing the famous family for more than $140 million, claiming they ruined her reality TV career.
“I will not go into a toxic work environment,” Kim Kardashian testified on Tuesday, commenting on her refusal to work with Chyna on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” per AP. “On my own show, I have the power to do that,” she added.
Chyna would sometimes appear on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” which was the mega-hit flagship show that created the spinoff, “Rob & Chyna.” The spinoff didn’t make it back on-air after its first season when the couple split up, following a volatile fight where Chyna allegedly choked Rob Kardashian with a phone cord and held a gun to his head. Last week, Chyna told the jury that the incident was a “joke.”
Network execs and producers from the short-lived E! series previously testified that the show couldn’t continue since the central stars were no longer together and the show was based on the premise of documenting the couple in love. Chyna, on the other hand, claims the famous family used their power to axe the show and derail her television career, which she says cost her more than a hundred million dollars in lost earnings.
On the stand, Kim Kardashian testified for an hour and often responded to questioning by stating, “I don’t remember.” She said she had no memory of attempting to kill the show, “Rob & Chyna,” which is what Chyna is alleging of the Kardashian-Jenner family, who she says convinced E! to cancel the series. (Last week, Kris Jenner testified that she did not have the power to “influence” the network on any cancellation.)
One text that was shown as evidence in court on Tuesday allegedly depicted Kim Kardashian texting a producer from Bunim-Murray (the production company behind “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and “Rob & Chyna”) where she appeared to express anger in Chyna continuing to film on “Keeping Up.” According to AP, Kim Kardashian texted, “I think we all need to take a break from filming at this point until we figure out what’s going on. She is not going to be on our show…So if you guys are going to film with Rob and Chyna, and then you are going to lose the Kardashians and Jenners.”
Kim Kardashian, according to AP, told the jury that her family would not have had the power to cancel her brother and Chyna’s show, but they could have withheld participation in their own show. “I have a right as a cast member to say we really need a break,” she testified.
Similarly, alleged messages from Kim’s sister Khloé were also shown in court where she expressed concern to E! over continuing to film with Chyna, telling the network in an email that their brother’s relationship with Chyna was bad for the family’s brand, per TMZ. One of the emails allegedly sent by Khloé Kardashian to E! stated, “We are even considering not moving forward with our show if theirs continues, that’s how strongly we feel this is damaging to our family.”
Khloé Kardashian testified that she wanted to protect her brother from “outrageous” and “chaotic” and “violent” behavior, TMZ reported on Tuesday from court, adding that she said on the stand, “We were all considering not being a part of such toxicity.”