Cardi B has been cleared of assaulting a security guard, with a Los Angeles jury deliberating for less than an hour to end a colourful civil trial. The rapper, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, was accused of scratching security guard Emani Ellis's face with a fake fingernail and spitting on her outside an obstetrician's office in 2018.
The jury found Cardi B not liable for assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and false imprisonment. Outside the Alhambra courthouse, the rapper thanked her legal team and denied ever touching Ellis. 'Let's just put this behind,' she said. 'I am not that celeb you gonna sue and you think is going to settle. Especially when I am super, completely innocent.'
The trial centred on an obstetrician appointment Cardi B attended while four months pregnant with her first child in 2018. The office had closed to other patients to protect her privacy. Cardi B claimed Ellis followed her to the fifth-floor office, said her name on the phone and appeared to be filming, leading to what she described as a 'verbal fight'. Ellis alleged Cardi B scratched her face with a fake nail, leaving a scar requiring cosmetic surgery, and sought damages for medical expenses, emotional suffering and lost wages.
During testimony, Cardi B denied physical contact, saying, 'She couldn't get a scratch from me because I didn't touch her.' When asked if she called Ellis 'fat', she replied, 'No. I was calling her a bitch.' The rapper also described being 'very disabled' while pregnant and unable to scratch someone. Both the doctor and receptionist testified they saw no physical fight.
