Cardi B appeared in court in Los Angeles this week as a civil trial accusing her of assault kicked off.
Monday, Cardi was seen in the courtroom as the accuser in the case, Emani Ellis, took the stand. According to Ellis, she was working as a security guard at an obstetrics and gynecology facility on Wilshire Blvd in the Beverly Hills area in 2018 when the alleged incident transpired. Cardi’s legal team, for their part, has disputed the allegations against their client, which center on a medical appointment she was arriving for at the Wilshire address. At the time of the visit, Cardi was pregnant.
“I said something along the lines of ‘That looks like Cardi B’ or ‘Wow, that’s Cardi B,’” Ellis said on the stand on Monday, as seen above in court footage shared by independent reporter Meghann Cuniff.
According to Ellis, Cardi then “turned back around” after the elevator encounter, at which point she allegedly asked “Why the fuck are you telling people that you see me?” At the time, Ellis further alleged, she “tried to calm her down and assure her that I didn’t tell anyone that I’d seen her” but Cardi, in her words, remained “extremely upset.”
During the alleged incident, Ellis has alleged that she sustained a cut to her face from Cardi B’s fingernail, which she estimated to be “about two to three inches long” at time. Ellis also testified that Cardi tried to swing at her but failed to connect, adding that she also engaged in alleged “body-shaming” and “racial slurs.” Additionally, Ellis testified that Cardi spit on her.
“The whole incident was super traumatizing for me,” Ellis, who earlier described herself as a former fan of the artist, testified. “She did a lot that day.”
As for Cardi’s legal team, their Monday in court consisted of pushing back against the allegations against their client, including by pointing out what they have argued are inconsistencies in Ellis’ statements. Lawyers specifically zeroed in on an incident report Ellis sent to her manager, highlighting how the wording of certain elements of the encounter did not, in their view, align with what was being said on the stand on Monday.
Proceedings in the civil case continue Tuesday. Below, see a longer video of the trial’s kickoff via Court TV.
Next up for Cardi is the September release of Am I the Drama?, her first full-length since her Grammy-winning 2018 breakthrough Invasion of Privacy.