Ray J and his team are pushing back against claims he applied fake blood to his face during a recent performance to get a rise out of fans after a life-threatening illness.
Footage of Ray J’s Valentine’s Day concert at Louisiana’s Shreveport Municipal Auditorium shows what appears to be blood dripping from his eyes from underneath a pair of sunglasses. At one point during the show, the singer and former reality TV star removes his shirt to reveal a heart monitor strapped to his chest.
“We all know that Ray J has been under the weather,” manager Melinda Santiago told People Tuesday. “But all my artists that work with me gotta do their job whether they are bleeding or not.”
Santiago’s comments were a stark contrast to those of photographer Tommy Nard II, who said the blood that dripped from Ray J’s eyes at the show was “all theatrical.”
“He loves the attention,” Nard II told local NBC affiliate KTAL 6. “I [saw] him literally put on the fake blood and things like that, and go out there with the crowd, which is very shocking that he’d do something like that.”
