YORKTOWN, N.Y. —A Yorktown man is suing reality television star Kim Kardashian over an Instagram post from last year in which she wrongfully identified him as a former Texas death row inmate.
At the time of the post in February 2024, there was an Ivan Cantu awaiting execution in Texas. But the photo used by Kardashian in her post was of another Ivan Cantu—who is from Yorktown.
The New York-based law firm Sobo & Sobo said it filed the case on Feb. 20 on behalf of Yorktown’s Cantu in Los Angeles Superior Court. The lawsuit accuses the reality star of libel, slander, and invasion of privacy, along with “false light"—using Cantu's photograph in a “false and misleading way” that is “highly offensive to a reasonable person.”
The firm said that Kardashian's actions harmed Cantu's reputation and profession, and caused severe emotional distress and anguish.
During a Feb. 20 press conference, Attorney Greg Sobo said Cantu is "a very private family man with two daughters."
At the time of the Instagram post, Sobo said, Cantu “was grieving a very private family loss," adding that “as a result of the Kardashian abuse, Mr. Cantu’s privacy was destroyed at a most critical and sensitive time, and he has suffered very real trauma that will last a lifetime.”
Sobo said Cantu did not want to take Kardashian to court, but “our several attempts to contact Kim Kardashian and her team have been ignored.”
The Texas-based Cantu was found guilty of murdering his cousin and his cousin's fiancé in November 2000. Despite a public campaign that pushed to reconsider the decision, Cantu was executed on Feb. 28, 2024.
According to the LinkedIn profile of Yorktown's Cantu, he is a senior project manager for Oliver Agency at Morgan Stanley.
The original social media post, attached to the lawsuit as evidence, shows a black-and-white photo of Cantu with the text “The State will execute Ivan Cantu in 2 days” above the image, and “Please sign the petition to demand that Colin County DA Greg Willis request to withdraw the execution date” below the image, as well as a link to a moveon.org petition.
Sobo's law firm said the focus of the lawsuit is making social media a safer space.
Kardashian's post of Cantu was shared with her more than 350 million Instagram followers and the firm said in a Feb. 18 article on its website that her “post drew much criticism” online “because it falsely alleged that Cantu was a convicted murder on death row.”
Sobo added that, too often, social media is "abused to bully the innocent, incite harm, and injure our communities.” He believes those who injure others using social media must “be held responsible” just as those who commit physical harm.
“If anyone knows the power of social media, it is Kim Kardashian," Sobo said. "Social media helped fuel her fame.”
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