Kim Kardashian faces a lawsuit after mistakenly identifying Ivan Cantu, a project manager from New York, as a death row inmate.
Cantu claims Kardashian’s February 2024 social media post caused him severe emotional distress and public embarrassment.
Kardashian intended to raise awareness about a death row case involving another inmate named Ivan “Abner” Cantu, who was executed in Texas. However, she posted a photo of the wrong Ivan Cantu. Cantu says the mistake subjected him to public ridicule, shame, hatred, and disgrace, leading him to sue Kardashian for libel and slander.
After the post, Cantu took to Facebook to clarify that he was “not getting executed” and that someone “who runs @kimkardashian” had posted the wrong picture.
He claims the post caused him to lose sleep, suffer from headaches and nightmares, and experience PTSD. He also states that Kardashian’s error hurt his reputation and forced him to seek medical care and emotional counselling.
Though Kardashian removed the post shortly after, Cantu argues that the damage was already done, given her vast social media following. Now, he is pursuing financial compensation.
Kim’s lawyer, Michael Rhodes, responded, telling TMZ, “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. 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.”
Main Images: Kim Kardashian via Instagram.
