A judge said Thursday he is leaning toward allowing attorneys for the mother of Rob Kardashian’s toddler-aged daughter to depose television host Ryan Seacrest regarding the cancellation of the second season of the former couple’s reality show “Rob & Chyna,” but said he wanted to study the issues further.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Randolph Hammock said his initial impression upon reading the court papers was that Seacrest should sit down to answer questions from plaintiff Blac Chyna’s lawyers.
“My instinct tells me that he has information about the cancellation of the show,” Hammock said.
But the judge said he is taking the case under submission and will not have a decision before April.
“I’m going away for two weeks and I’m not going to be thinking about the Kardashians,” the judge said.
Hammock also heard other motions in Chyna’s case Thursday, but postponed the majority of them until May 15.
Seacrest, 44, was an executive producer for “Rob & Chyna,” the same role he has with the Kardashian clan show on E!, “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”
Chyna’s claims against Rob Kardashian, as well as Kim and Khloe Kardashian and Kris and Kylie Jenner, include defamation and interference with prospective economic advantage. Chyna alleges the four women falsely claimed she physically abused Rob Kardashian, with whom she once had a romantic relationship.
In her lawsuit, Chyna, whose real name is Angela White, alleges she suffered significant damages and that the scandal caused her reality show with her ex-boyfriend to be canceled by E! She alleges that E! would have granted her a second season of the show but for false statements against her, including alleged comments by the four female defendants to E! Network representatives in late 2016 and early 2017 that Chyna physically abused Rob Kardashian.
Chyna maintains that Seacrest may have information on why the four Kardashian women allegedly wanted the show canceled. Chyna’s attorney, Lynne Ciani, said Seacrest, 44, and Rob Kardashian exchanged emails about the show’s second season before it was canceled.
But Seacrest’s attorney, Chrystal Jonelis, said her client has no “intimate knowledge” about the show’s cancellation and that the information Chyna seeks can best be obtained from other people.
Chyna, 31, and Rob Kardashian, 32, began dating in January 2016 and had a daughter, Dream, that November. They split a month later and she sued Kardashian, his mother and three of his sisters in October 2017.
In July 2017, he used social media to post pictures of Chyna’s naked breasts, backside and genitals. He also accused her of sleeping with another man in “the same bed Chyna and I made our baby in.” He later took down some of the photos.