KIM Kardashian has no integrity for maintaining her friendship with Joe Francis according to documentary director Katinka Blackford Newman.
The former Kardashian family friend is the focus of TNT’s new documentary RICH & SHAMELESS: Girls Gone Wild Exposed, as it alleges physical and sexual assault, child pornography, and domestic violence accusations against GGW founder Joe, 49.
In an exclusive interview with The Celeb Report, the director said she hopes the documentary will serve as “a wakeup call to celebrities like the Kardashians and to understand that if they are friends with people like Joe Francis it endorses their actions.”
Katinka specifically spoke out about 41-year-old Kim’s decades-long friendship with the notorious alleged abuser.
Recalling Joe’s 2003 arrest on charges of child pornography, the documentarian claimed Kris Jenner said at the time: “‘Oh Joe, you are in jail, we must get you out of there.'”
The director continued: “And you have Kim Kardashian wearing a T-shirt saying ‘Free Joe Francis.’ Well, what were they thinking of? He was facing serious abuse charges at the time.
“I really wonder what the Kim Kardashian of 2022 would say to the Kim K of 2008 because she purports to be an advocate of women’s rights and criminal justice and so on.”
“There is a complete lack of integrity there,” Katinka added.
As The Celeb Report previously exclusively revealed, Joe was arrested for choking and spitting on a woman in 2020 and Kim shared a photo of herself at Joe’s estate, Casa Aramara just weeks after the report surfaced.
Katinka went on to say she believes “the celebrities gave him a free pass to abuse people.”
The film also explores allegations of rape against Joe by a woman named Jannel.
“Women like Jannel trusted Joe Francis because of his celebrity status and his friendship with the Kardashians and so on,” Katinka said.
As she first set out to create the documentary, she said she had at first thought “I was making a film about a sleazy pornographer, but halfway through the production process, we realized it was a much bigger story. It was a story about a violent abuser.”
“Girls Gone Wild no longer operates but his legacy lives on in the trauma of the women he abused. The lessons we can learn from his story are highly relevant. He was allowed to get away with it because of his celebrity friends,” she continued.
“We approached about 100 celebrities for comment and it was absolutely no comment, they have done a disappearing act and didn’t want to take part in the program. There will always be sexual predators like Joe Francis but I think there is a responsibility for celebrities.
Despite the success of the franchise, the filmmaker alleged: “I heard such appalling things about him and how abusive he is. On the other hand I heard that he gets away with it because he is so charming and he is clearly a clever businessman. He is someone with enormous anger issues and you can hear that in the early audio recording of him beating up the mother of his kids.
“He seems to be somewhat of a Jekyll and Hyde personality and someone who is abusive in all areas of his life. He didn’t want to pay people, would never take no for an answer from anybody, had to get his own way, very entitled.”
“Never seems to say sorry or say he is wrong. No self-reflection. You see him lie a number of times in the documentary, whether he believes his own lies or not I don’t know,” Katinka pondered.
‘IT’S VERY SCARY’
She said that while Joe was clearly successful, it came at the cost to so many vulnerable young women, most of who were in their teens at the time.
“He was hugely successful and his main skill was in getting people to do things for free. That’s what is so seedy. These girls were not being paid. ”
“It’s one thing when you have people that are making an informed choice and are being paid to take part in pornography. These girls were not being paid and they were being tricked into signing complex legal contracts after he got them completely drunk. It’s just not fair and it’s so exploitative and abusive,” she added.
Katinka said: “He is taking away their free choice. He’s not saying sign this and it gives me the right to make millions of dollars off your image, which will be out there forever, and you can’t change your mind. It could happen to my daughter if it was going on now. It’s very scary.”
Meanwhile, Katinka said that Joe’s ex Abbey Wilson and her children are still in hiding.
“I wouldn’t want to say anything at all that would put her at risk or would aggravate the very difficult situation she is in with Joe Francis.”
FACING JUSTICE?
As The Celeb Report exclsuviely reported last year, Joe’s ex alleged he had abused meth and was violent with her as she demanded full custody of their twins.
Katinka said she does have some hope that Joe may one day be brought to justice.
“Wouldn’t that be amazing if this documentary could result in him being forced to face the charges leveled against him. It’s so awful that money can literally get you out of jail. How many people can fly off on their private jet to their boathole in Mexico and escape criminal and civil charges. It’s iniquitous.”
In May of 2015, a US District judge issued a warrant for Joe’s arrest after he failed to comply with the orders in his bankruptcy case, according to Page Six at the time.
Joe was already living in Mexico at the time, and has reportedly not returned to the states since.
As Kim’s notorious sex tape has once again made its way into the news cycle, Katinka said Joe’s colleagues told her that he helped the reality star get her sex tape out there.
‘HE GOT AWAY WITH THINGS’
“I imagine he has been very useful to the Kardashian family. He is a shrewd businessman. He helped Kim launch her career. He dated one of them – Kourtney. Celebrities don’t like to admit that they make mistakes,” she added.
“We’ve had the Me Too era which is pretty important and it’s not cool to be flashing for the cameras. He slipped under Me Too because by then he had become irrelevant and people had forgotten who he was so he wasn’t made accountable.
“I think he got away with things because people were too frightened to speak up against him and with good reason. It takes a lot of courage and the real heroes of the film were the girls who bravely shared their story.
“People may say, you should have known better, which is completely unfair because we all make mistakes when we are teenagers. But how unfair is it that the footage is on the internet forever?”
She added: I think it’s had a devastating effect. One of them was allegedly raped and the fact you’ve been filmed doing really extreme things and some slimy guy is still making money out of it – that must have a devastating effect.”
PAST DRAMA
Joe made headlines just last year when he claimed that his 7-year-old twin daughters were missing.
Though he claimed that the girls’ mother disappeared with them in Mexico, his ex Abbey insisted she had full temporary custody of their kids — and did not kidnap anyone.
As The Celeb Report exclusively reported, last summer, Abbey had accused Joe of meth and cocaine abuse, adding to her previous allegations of his domestic abuse.
In August of 2020, he was accused of grabbing her by the neck and spitting in her face to give her Covid, as The Celeb Report revealed.
Joe was charged with domestic violence and intentional injury after the incident at his Punta Mita home, according to Mexican court documents obtained by The Celeb Report.
He reportedly spent 73 days in a Mexican jail.
Following Joe’s arrest, his Mexico home known as Casa Aramara caught fire and suffered substantial damage.
The documentary reports that Abbey’s is now raising their daughters “in hiding” and without Joe’s financial support.
It also claims that Joe is currently living as a fugitive in Mexico to escape battery and false imprisonment charges.
The 90-minute documentary will air on TNT this Saturday, April 23, at 7pm.
