A photographer is speaking out after Ray J appeared to cry bloody tears during a recent concert, alleging the dramatic moment was staged.
On Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14), the R&B singer and reality TV star took the stage for a holiday show at Shreveport Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Mid-performance, the 45-year-old shocked the crowd with what looked like blood streaming from his eyes and what appeared to be a blood-covered chest monitor strapped to him. The unsettling visuals quickly went viral, with Ray J later claiming he has been dealing with health issues.
However, photographer Tommy Nard II, who was at the show, insists it was all for show.
“He loves the camera. He loves the attention. Anybody that knows him, it’s all theatrical,” Tommy Nard II told People.
“I’m behind the scenes, like, ‘What are you doing?’” Nard continued. “I seen 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.”
Last month, Ray J was hospitalized in Las Vegas with pneumonia and heart complications, following months of separation from his wife of nine years, Princess Love. The former Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood star had previously filed for an order of protection against Ray J after he allegedly pulled a gun on her during a Thanksgiving livestream. That order has since been dismissed.
After being released from the hospital, Ray J revealed he “almost died” amid his recent health battle, claiming his heart has been functioning at “25 percent.”
“But as long as I stay focused and stay on the right path, then everything will be alright. So thank you for all your prayers,” he told supporters in an Instagram reel last month.
Addressing Ray J’s Valentine’s Day performance, his manager, Melinda Santiago, told People that while the singer has been “under the weather,” her artist still has a responsibility to hit the stage.
She added that performers “gotta do their job whether they are bleeding or not.”
