Cardi B told jurors Wednesday that the female security guard suing her with claims of assault is asking for $24 million in damages.
The Grammy-winning rapper took the witness stand for a second day, recounting more details of the confrontation with plaintiff Emani Ellis that unfolded outside an OB-GYN’s office on Feb. 24, 2018. Cardi, born Belcalis Almánzar, was about four months pregnant at the time, visiting the doctor’s office in secret, she testified.
Almánzar claims Ellis blurted out her name with a phone to her ear when she spotted the “I Like It” singer exiting a fifth-floor elevator. She says Ellis then appeared to be recording her with her phone. When Almánzar asked her to stop, a verbal altercation ensued, she testified Tuesday and Wednesday. On Monday, Ellis told jurors that Almánzar falsely accused her of recording, got in her face, and cut her left cheek with a three-inch fingernail.
Under questioning by Ellis’ lawyer on Wednesday, Almánzar said that after the incident, Ellis allegedly posted something online, and her fans caught it. The platinum-selling artist said she responded online to correct the “lies,” accusing Ellis of “trying to get some money” with her claims. “She’s suing me for $24 million,” Almánzar said on the witness stand, marking the first time jurors heard a dollar amount in the case.
Ellis, 32, first sued Cardi in February 2020. In her 13-page complaint, she claimed Almánzar physically attacked her and then “used her celebrity status to get [her] fired.” (Ellis was terminated from her job a few days after the incident.) On Monday, Ellis’ lawyer confirmed his client had dropped the employment claim related to the alleged plot to get her fired.
Asked Wednesday if she was “disabled” during the incident, Almánzar gave a one-liner that caused several jurors to chuckle. “At that moment, when you’re pregnant, I’m very disabled,” she deadpanned. “You want me to tell you the things I can’t do?”
Almánzar’s testimony was briefly interrupted Wednesday to take a star witness for the defense out of order. Tierra Malcolm, the receptionist for Women’s Care of Beverly Hills, recalled rushing out of the medical office to get in between the arguing women that day. Malcolm said the office had been expecting Almánzar and was closed to other patients at that time, to accommodate her privately.
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“I saw them in the corner, Cardi B’s back to the wall, and I just heard a lot of arguing,” she said, later describing Almánzar as being “kind of cornered.” She said the women were “cursing,” but she never heard Almánzar use any racial slurs, as Ellis alleges.
“I immediately walked over there and got in between them,” Malcolm said. She stood facing Ellis, with Almánzar behind her, she recalled. Somehow, she suffered a scratch on her forehead that was bleeding slightly when she returned to her office. She testified she wasn’t exactly sure how she got the scratch, but she only recalled Ellis’ “hands” moving.
“I could only see arms flying in front of me,” she said. “I didn’t feel anything or see any hands come from behind me.” Asked if she heard Ellis yell, “I will fuck your shit up,” she said, “Yeah, something along those words.”
Malcolm said that a few months after the incident, Ellis called her and asked if she could assist with some type of claim related to the incident. Malcolm said she declined. “I didn’t think if I told my truth [that] it would help her,” she testified.
Back on the witness stand, Almánzar said she was trying to keep her pregnancy a secret that day because her first hit single, “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves),” was still relatively new, and she wasn’t yet accustomed to her rising fame. She was worried about how news of a pregnancy might affect her career. “I didn’t tell my parents yet. I was just very overwhelmed,” she testified. “I felt my privacy was completely being violated. I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with my medical records,” made public, she said, “especially something so sacred as a pregnancy.”
From Rolling Stone US
