Cardi B throws pen at reporter outside court before being cleared of assault

Cardi B threw a pen at a reporter outside an LA court yesterday during her assault trial after they asked her a ‘disrespectful’ question.

The WAP hitmaker, 32, threw the pen – which she quickly acquired from a fan – in the middle of her civil court date, where she was later cleared of a 2018 assault charge.

‘Hey Cardi, you’re beautiful,’ said the reporter from an unknown publication, before they asked: ‘Insiders are claiming Offset is publicly bragging about getting you pregnant for the fourth time.’

He then asked the mother-of-three if she foresaw any ‘paternity issues with Stefon Giggs,’ the American professional footballer she’s been with since June.

Quickly after this question about her estranged ex, the Grammy-winning rapper took a pen from a fan and chucked it at the man, telling him: ‘Stop disrespecting me. Don’t disrespect me.’

‘I still love you even though you threw stuff at me,’ he retorted, before she said, ‘I don’t care. You’re disrespectful. Don’t do that. Do you see women asking those types of questions to me? Why do you feel as a man you have to ask me those types of questions?’

The I Like It hitmaker – whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar – was found not liable in the civil lawsuit brought against her by security guard Emani Ellis, who took action in 2020 over an alleged incident two years prior.

After the verdict was read out in court on Tuesday, September 2, Cardi thanked her lawyers, fans, the jurors, ‘respectful press’, and ‘everybody at home supporting me’.

During a press conference after the verdict was read out, she said: ‘This time around I’m going to be nice. The next person to try and do a frivolous lawsuit against me, I’m going to countersue, and I’m going to make you pay because this is not OK.’

She explained: ‘I work all day and I work hard for my money, for my kids, for the people that I take care of. So don’t you ever think that you’re going to sue me, and I’m just going to settle.’

The rapper – who told fans not to bother Ellis following the ruling – again stressed her innocence, saying: ‘I will say it on my deathbed, I did not touch that woman.’

Why was Cardi B in court?

Ellis had alleged Cardi – who has Kulture, seven, Wave, three, and 11-month-old Blossom with rapper Offset – spat on her face, used racial slurs and cut her face with her fingernail in her lawsuit.

Almanzar told the court Ellis incessantly filmed her on her phone outside a private obstetrics appointment. At the time Cardi was secretly four months pregnant with her first child and the office closed for the day to protect her privacy.

Meanwhile, Ellis claimed she was ‘traumatised’ from the alleged incident.

She also alleged the rapper had ‘used her celebrity status’ to get her fired from her job and sued over claims of assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and false imprisonment following the incident.

While she sought $24 million (£18m) in damages, the security guard insisted the case was ‘never about the money’.

She told reporters in the wake of the verdict: ‘What she did to me was real, never about the money, but more importantly, it’s about the accountability.

‘My position is the same. She assaulted and battered me, and I don’t want her to get away with it. I don’t want it to be overlooked.’

The Drip singer denied the allegations and accused the woman of instigating the altercation by following her down the hallway at the doctor’s office and trying to record her.

Almanzar insisted the altercation had never turned physical but admitted they were standing ‘chest to chest’ and she yelled: ‘B****, get the f*** out of my face.’

The rapper’s case was assisted by testimony from a doctor she was there to see and a receptionist, Tierra Malcolm, who tried to break up the altercation and testified that Ellis was the aggressor.

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