Kim Kardashian’s 2007 sex tape with Ray J did more than shock Hollywood—it triggered a seismic shift in how scandal can build a global brand. In a Flashback segment for VladTV titled “Vivid CEO Steven Hirsch on How the Kim K & Ray J Deal Came Together,” interviewer DJ Vlad (Vlad Lyubovny) sits down with Steven Hirsch, co-founder of Vivid Entertainment, to reveal the meticulous business behind the most famous celebrity tape of all time.
Full Interview
DJ Vlad: The sex tape business—you guys essentially, I mean the celebrity sex-tape business, right? You guys essentially own that space.
Steven Hirsch: We’ve been fortunate and we’ve been very successful and I think that along with that success brings more movies our way. So I think it really started with the Pam and Tommy tape—that was the first one that we did—and we sort of got a reputation for knowing how to distribute and how to market. Then there were a few small ones—the Janine and Vince Neil tape came after that—but you know, Kim really broke it wide open. The Kim Kardashian tape was really an amazing phenomenon and after that the floodgates opened and many more celebrities felt comfortable.
DJ Vlad: The interesting thing about celebrity sex tapes is that, when you talk to the outside population, it almost seems like it’s presented as: “This tape leaked, I had no idea how it happened, it’s out there, I’m not making any money off it,” and so forth.
Steven Hirsch: The reality is, from what I know about the porn industry, you can’t legally put out anything like that—any sort of pornography—without having everyone sign off, without having licenses, driver’s-license identification, and a bunch of different contracts. That means that everyone’s actually involved. Celebrity sex tapes come in all different shapes and sizes and they make their way to our office in many different ways.
DJ Vlad: Sometimes the person who’s in it is upset.
Steven Hirsch: Sometimes a tape will come to us and the celebrity who’s in it will be very upset about it. I think Kim is a perfect example—I mean, she went absolutely crazy.
DJ Vlad: Let’s talk about the Kim Kardashian tape. How did you obtain it, and what happened afterward?
Steven Hirsch: It was brought to us by a third party who felt like the proper paperwork we needed was in place—that came along with it. Now, that ultimately wasn’t the case. But we went out there and said, “Look, we feel comfortable releasing this movie.” Ultimately we were able to have a conversation with Kim after much back and forth and lots of legal stuff going on, but she agreed to allow us to put out the tape. We paid her several million dollars. It was an amazing investment for us and I think it worked out pretty good for her as well. But ultimately, yes, we needed to get an agreement.
DJ Vlad: So the back-and-forth we saw in the press is what happens before the deal?
Steven Hirsch: Exactly. When a tape leaks or is stolen and finds its way to my desk, we reach out and say, “We’d like to put this out.” You can decide not to do a deal with us—that’s fine, we’ll walk away. But the internet’s a funny place and these things seem to find their way out anyway. So why not come along for the ride, make some money, and maybe it can enhance your career?
DJ Vlad: You still own the Kim Kardashian tape, right? I heard she tried to buy it back.
Steven Hirsch: We were approached about two years ago by somebody—may or may not have been Kim—interested in purchasing the rights. Ultimately we didn’t make that deal; it wasn’t enough money and honestly, with millions of copies already on the internet or on DVD, what would buying accomplish? It was right before her first marriage to Kris Humphries.
DJ Vlad: Back then she was virtually unknown outside Los Angeles. Why pay that kind of money for someone “unknown”?
Steven Hirsch: Kim was not unknown. Her father represented O. J., her best friend was Paris Hilton, her stepfather was Bruce Jenner—there was a lot to work with. And the legal tug-of-war gave the story so much steam that by the time we made the deal, she was a household name before the movie even came out.
DJ Vlad: Did the release process boost her fame?
Steven Hirsch: I’d love to take all the credit, but I can’t. The tape was part of it, but the team she surrounded herself with afterward—marketing people, her manager, her agents—put together the plan that made Kim who she is today.
DJ Vlad: Are you surprised by how big she’s gotten?
Steven Hirsch: Surprised in the sense that it’s unusual for someone to become that massive a star—she’s a major, major celebrity. But she had a great look, she was unique, and she marketed herself brilliantly. The television show came soon after the movie and that really helped catapult her.
Conclusion
Steven Hirsch’s unfiltered account makes one point clear: Kim Kardashian’s rise was no accident. Legal clearances, multimillion-dollar payouts, and savvy publicity converged to turn a private moment into a public milestone—and a launchpad for a multibillion-dollar empire. The story shows how, in the digital era, controversy managed with strategy can reinvent fame itself.
