A leaked sex tape helped catalyze the Kardashian reality show’s launch

Evidence

In 2006, Hilton hired her longtime friend Kourtney Kardashian’s younger sister Kim to organize her closet. Kourtney and Kim were the daughters of Robert Kardashian, a lesser-known lawyer on O. J. Simpson’s triumphant legal team, and Kris Jenner, who remarried with Olympian Caitlyn Jenner (prior to her transition). Like Hilton, Kim Kardashian also had big dreams of being famous. While trying to make money running her closet-organizing business, Kim Kardashian often met with an editor at In Touch Weekly to pitch gossip stories about herself. The problem, the editor kept having to reiterate, was that readers had no interest in reading about complete unknowns like Kim Kardashian. She at least needed to be on TV. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 158 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

A few months later, Paris Hilton spent a few weeks in jail for violating her probation for an earlier alcohol-related reckless driving charge. The Simple Life aired its last episode on August 5, 2007. Lindsay Lohan planned to release her own reality show on E!, but she pulled out of the project after being arrested for cocaine possession and driving under the influence. Needing to plug the hole in programming for fall, E! announced a new reality show from Bunim Murray Productions and American Idol host Ryan Seacrest: Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Poptimism opened the door for Paris Hilton, and now Hilton opened it further to accommodate the entire Kardashian family. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 160 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Lindsay Lohan’s arrests indirectly launched the Kardashian reality TV empire. — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 160; Kim Kardashian had to get on TV before the press would cover her fame-seeking — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 158

Broader Connections

• Kim Kardashian had to get on TV before the press would cover her fame-seeking #contradicts (0.80) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 158
• Lindsay Lohan’s arrests indirectly launched the Kardashian reality TV empire. #corroborates (0.75) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 160