Not giving in. Ryan Seacrest responded to Blac Chyna’s request to force the producer to submit to a deposition in her lawsuit against the Kardashian-Jenner family.
In court documents obtained by Us Weekly, Seacrest, 44, claims “there simply is no legal or factual basis to subject [him] to a deposition” because he “had nothing whatsoever to do with the events giving rise to this action” and “has no relevant testimony to offer.”
The papers also call Chyna’s motion “nothing more than a continued campaign of harassment.” In addition, his lawyers requested that she be ordered to pay him $2,460 for the burden he incurred.
According to other court documents in the case, the Live With Kelly and Ryan cohost’s company Ryan Seacrest Productions opposed Chyna’s request to subpoena their business records. The company claimed they already gave the 30-year-old reality star’s legal team 800 documents and asked that she be sanctioned $1,950.
Furthermore, Ryan Seacrest Productions alleged that Bunim-Murray Productions was “100 percent responsible for the physical production” of Rob & Chyna, along with the show’s concept, content and day-to-day production. The former claimed to be “merely a ‘passive’ executive producer,” adding that Ryan Seacrest Productions “had no involvement in the decision to cancel the show; in fact, such a decision was not within its power.”
Chyna alleged in court documents obtained by Us in February that Seacrest refused to appear for a deposition, though he “had direct involvement in, and has personal knowledge of, the specific events that gave rise to this litigation.” The American Idol host previously said he had “little to no direct involvement with the production of Rob & Chyna.”
The model’s lawsuit against Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian and Kylie Jenner claims that the family had Rob & Chyna canceled by publishing defamatory materials about Chyna. She also accused Rob Kardashian — with whom she shares 2-year-old daughter Dream — of assault and battery, defamatory statements and public slut-shaming in the wake of his 2017 social media rant against her.
Seacrest, for his part, was an executive producer on the 2016 reality series, which aired on E! for one season.
The lawsuit will go to trial, according to a November 2018 court ruling.
Emails between Khloé, 34, and Kylie, 21, were released in December 2018, in which the sisters corresponded about ending Rob & Chyna. “I feel very strongly about canceling Season 2 of Rob&Chyna,” the Lip Kit mogul wrote in December 2016. “The only reason Chyna wants to be with my brother is for this show. She does not love Rob and their relationship is too fake and destructive.”
The Good American cofounder added that she and her sisters were “even considering not moving forward” with Keeping Up With the Kardashians if Rob & Chyna continued filming.
