Whitney Houston’s sister-in-law tried to have Ray J removed from audience

Washington: Before Whitney Houston was honoured at Sunday night’s Billboard Music Awards with a posthumous award, the late pop diva’s sister-in-law tried to have Houston’s boyfriend Ray J physically removed from the audience, it has emerged.

Pat Houston was angered to find Ray J, who the family considers to have been a bad influence on the singer, sitting next to her and called security, TMZ reported. She backed down, however, when it became obvious that any physical disruption would be caught on camera right around the time Whitney’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, accepted the award on her mother’s behalf. In the end, Ray J kept his seat and his cool. Ray J groused to friends, “Pat ruined what was a great opportunity to honor the woman who I loved.” Despite the behind-the-scenes drama, Whitney Houston ended up being properly honored with a medley of her hits, including ‘I Will Always Love You.’ The medley was performed by John Legend and Jordin Sparks, who co-starred with Houston in the singer’s final big-screen movie, the upcoming ‘Sparkle.’ “I really want to say thank you to everyone who supported us through it all,” said Bobbi Kristina Brown when she accepted the Billboard Millennium Award with Pat Houston. “Not just from when it was good but when it was bad, too,” she added. A representative for the Houston family clarified that Pat’s assistant did ask for Ray J to be moved from his seat but only after an official from Billboard told the family they needed to move to the seat that Ray J was already using. Since Ray J had a ticket with the proper seat number, he refused to budge so Pat’s assistant called for security to help sort out the situation. The Houston family representative insisted that Pat did not have a problem with Ray J. ANI