Kim Kardashian always seems to be moving a million miles a minute, whether it’s with her multibillion-dollar SKIMS brand, running her popular social media accounts or continuing her efforts to become a full-on movie star. However, with so many coals in the fire, the reality star is bound to ruffle more than a few feathers. And, as she prepares to make her face-slapping, neck-snapping return to American Horror Story: Delicate on April 3, Kardashian has just been hit with a major lawsuit over … her office furniture?
The Judd Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to maintaining the work and legacy of Donald Judd, filed a lawsuit against Kim Kardashian in California federal court on March 27. Legal action was taken against the star for reportedly featuring knockoff versions of the late artist’s pieces in a YouTube video tour of her SKKN by Kim offices but passing the furniture off as authentic. According to the lawsuit, which was obtained by Reuters, the Kardashians star hired Clements Design to furnish her offices. Clements then designed a proposal allegedly using the Judd Foundation’s copyrighted photos to create fake versions of the pieces. The suit reads:
The knockoff furniture was subsequently installed into Ms. Kardashian’s SKKN BY KIM office. Ms. Kardashian promoted the fake furniture and her association with Mr. Judd and DONALD JUDD furniture in a video on her YouTube channel, which has more than two million subscribers. The video showed the fake furniture, which included knockoff versions of both the DONALD JUDD La Mansana Table and the DONALD JUDD Chair 84 shown in the DONALD JUDD Integrated Trade Dress, with Ms. Kardashian telling the ‘furniture people’ watching that she had purchased authentic ‘Donald Judd tables.’
Kim Kardashian was “well aware that the furniture featured in the Kardashian Video is fake,” the court documents read. The Judd Foundation also contends that she intentionally misled her fans to believe that she was “associated with or endorsed by” Donald Judd, whose pieces have been featured in museums including New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
On the 2022 YouTube video in question, Kim Kardashian says:
If you guys are furniture people — because I've really gotten into furniture lately — these Donald Judd tables are really amazing and totally blend in with the seats.
The Judd Foundation alleges in the lawsuit that it had been in contact with Kim Kardashian and Clements Design “for several months” before filing the lawsuit. With that, the group felt that it was left with no choice but to take legal action after no efforts were made “by either party to correct the misstatements, recycle the fake furniture,or remove the false statement” from the YouTube video.
As of this writing, the video titled, "Welcome to my Office! Official SKKN BY KIM Office Tour," was no longer available to the public on Kim Kardashian's page, though it still existed in several other places on YouTube.
In addition to her role on American Horror Story: Delicate Part 2, Kim and the rest of the Kardashian-Jenner family are set to return Thursday, May 23, with Season 5 of The Kardashians, which can be streamed with a Hulu subscription. You can keep up with all of the upcoming premieres by checking out our 2024 TV schedule.
