Jen Thomas
Cardi B has taken to the witness stand as she denies assaulting a security guard.
The rapper is being sued by a security guard, Emani Ellis, who alleges that the Grammy award-winner assaulted her outside a medical office back in 2018.
Cardi B, real name Belcalis Almanz, appeared in the Alhambra courtroom on Tuesday, August 26 for the civil case.
Her defense insists there was no assault or physical altercation, but confirmed there was a verbal altercation between the two. Ellis filed the suit back in 2020, alleging assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, as well as negligence and false imprisonment.
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A previous criminal battery case against the star was dropped, after she was accused of throwing a microphone at a fan.
A reporter asked Cardi how she was doing as she arrived at the courtroom, before asking if she thought the claim was 'a shakedown for money'.
Cardi replied to the reporter: "Absolutely!"
She told the court that the security guard was caught filming her on a cellphone in order to capture footage of her heading into the medical office in Beverly Hills.
Ellis also claimed she was left needing plastic surgery after Cardi's long nails cut her skin.
Cardi insists the security guard was the aggressor in the incident, and said there was a confrontation as she objected to being filmed.
The rapper says Ellis was filming her outside of her OB-GYN's office while she was visibly pregnant with her first child.
At that time, Cardi had not gone public about the pregnancy.
In court, she said: “I could hear her. She was talking on the phone. She said, ‘Oh my god, Cardi B is here!’ So I kind of speed walk [away], but I feel her behind me.”
She added: "I turned around and saw she was recording me... so I said 'aren't you supposed to be security?' to which she said 'oh my bad', but she kept following me and I'm getting annoyed, like b****, you're the security guard of the building."
A reporter asked: "Was she recording you without your knowledge?" to which she replied: "Yes, and nobody touched each other," adding, "She didn't hit me, I didn't hit her, there was no touch.
"You're recording me. Now you're following me, like back up. And she's like, 'I can do what I want.' It's like, 'No, you can't. You can't do what you want.' And that's when we started arguing," Cardi B said.
She was heard being asked in court: "Did you spit on Ms Ellis? Did you call her the N-word?" to which she said no to both.
She admitted 'screaming' at her, saying she told the guard: “B****, get the f*** out of my face.”
Ellis filed a lawsuit back in 2020, claiming she was violently assaulted by the performer.
She claims she was hit on her head, face and body, and alleges Cardi also spat on her and shouted racial slurs.
"The whole incident was super traumatizing for me. She did a lot that day," Ellis said on Monday, the first day of the trial.
Cardi disputed her nails could have done such damage.
She was asked to show her nails off to the court: "How long are those fingernails? Half an inch, one inch, two inches?"
"I think it has to be less than an inch," said Cardi, as she was asked if they were 'pointy'.
"To me, they are not pointy. They are like, circle," she replied.
A plastic surgeon, Dr Brent Moelleken also gave evidence, saying he treated Ellis in 2022 for scars on her face.
"She had vertically oriented, up and down scars, there were two of them," he recalled.
Cardi B's defense team on Monday said there were inconsistencies in Ellis' account. The case continues and is expected to last another two weeks.