NEED TO KNOW
- Backstage photographer Tommy Nard II alleges he watched Ray J apply fake blood before performing at a Valentine’s Day concert in Shreveport, Louisiana, on February 14.
- The concert came just weeks after Ray J claimed doctors told him he had months to live and that his heart had turned “black” from drug and alcohol abuse.
- Ray J’s manager defended his participation, saying her artists “gotta do their job whether they are bleeding or not” — which, as far as corporate mantras go, is a choice.
Leave it to Ray J to turn a Valentine’s Day concert into a conversation about theatrical props. On February 14, the 45-year-old “One Wish” singer took the stage at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium in Louisiana with what appeared to be blood streaming from his eyes and a medical monitor strapped to his chest — a visual alarming enough to send fans into a full-scale social media spiral.
The problem? According to the photographer working the event, the whole thing may have been straight out of a Spirit Halloween shopping cart.
Tommy Nard II of Nard Multimedia Group, who was working backstage at the concert, didn’t mince words when he spoke to People and local Shreveport news station KTAL about what he allegedly witnessed. “He loves the camera. He loves the attention. Anybody that knows him, it’s all theatrical,” Nard told reporters.
He went even further, describing exactly what he says he saw before Ray J walked onstage: “I’m behind the scenes, like, ‘What are you doing?’ 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.”
The concert itself was billed as a star-studded Valentine’s Day affair, also featuring Kelly Price and Bobby Valentino. Ahead of the show, Ray J posted on Facebook, “I’m putting my life on the line for this show!!” — a statement that, depending on which version of events you believe, is either deeply concerning or extremely on-brand.
Fan videos circulating online showed the “Sexy Can I” singer removing his sunglasses mid-set to reveal what looked like blood pooled beneath both eyes, with a medical dressing visible on his chest that sparked speculation about a heart monitor.
The fake blood allegations don’t exist in a vacuum, of course — they’re arriving on the heels of some genuinely alarming health claims from Ray J himself. In January, he told fans via Instagram video, “I was in a hospital. My heart’s only beating like 25 percent, but as long as I stay focused and stay on the right path, everything will be all right.”
Then, during an Instagram Live, he escalated: “2027 is definitely a wrap for me,” he said, alleging that doctors told him he would not live much longer and that his heart had turned “black” as a result of alcohol and drug abuse. TMZ reported he was hospitalized on January 7 for severe pneumonia and heart pain.
His manager, Melinda Santiago, addressed the bleeding-eyes moment with an energy best described as deeply unbothered. “We all know that Ray J has been under the weather,” she told People. “But all my artists that work with me gotta do their job whether they are bleeding or not.” Whether that’s a ringing endorsement of professionalism or a completely unhinged take is genuinely unclear, but here we are.
Backstage, Ray J himself seemed more interested in dismissing concern than clarifying the imagery. In a video, he responded to claims he looked “sick,” insisting he was “feeling better” and adding, “Hey y’all, we’re perfectly fine, nobody’s sick. Look at me. I’m fine, y’all.”
Social media, for its part, landed all over the map. Some users wrote things like, “Ray j keep faking everything for attention,” and “He’s corny AF! He’s seeking attention. If he was really sick he wouldn’t be performing.” Others were more measured, with one fan advising him to “slow your roll” and noting that “a heart needs time to heal.”
The fake blood at a concert is a bold, creative choice for any artist, but doing it weeks after announcing you might have months to live is a particularly Ray J move — one that’s somehow managed to make people simultaneously worried about him and completely exasperated by him.
Neither his team nor his representatives have issued any formal clarification about the chest monitor or the substance beneath his eyes, so for now we’re left with ambiguity — and Nard’s footage — and have to decide what to believe.
