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Cardi B is in the news for sharing a photo of Melania Trump, the wife of the newly elected president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, on X on November 10, 2024. The Money crooner shared the image after a netizen shared an old video of Cardi B from when she reportedly worked in a strip club.
The netizen captioned the post shared on X on November 10, 2024:
"Just a reminder, she tried telling millions of people Kamala Harris was the right choice for America."
The rapper responded with a photo of Melania Trump in a New York Post magazine posing as a nude model.
Cardi B, not one to shy away from making bold statements in her music and social media, has been involved in controversies in her career. This article explores six incidents that placed the rapper under public scrutiny.
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Disclaimer: This article is written according to reports from different sources and is ranked in no particular order.
6 times Cardi B was involved in controversy
1) Her relationship with Offset
The Bodak Yellow hitmaker’s relationship with rapper Offset was highly publicized, involving allegations of unfaithfulness. The rappers have three children together, Kulture, Wave, and a two-month baby whose name hasn’t been revealed yet.
The pair had their first date in February 2017, according to a Harper’s Bazaar publication of October 24, 2024, and tied the knot in September 2017. Offset was hit with cheating allegations in January of the following year and Cardi addressed the rumors in a February 2018 interview with Cosmopolitan. He seemingly acknowledged the rumors while affirming her decision to stay with her partner.
"This is my life ... I’m going to take my time, and I’m going to decide on my decision … It’s not right, what he fu**ing did — but people don’t know what I did, ’cause I ain’t no angel.”
According to reports from People Magazine in September 2020, Cardi filed for divorce from Offset in the same month. The pair got back together again and appeared at several events together.
Offset in an Instagram post in June 2023, accused Cardi of cheating, according to Cosmopolitan reports. According to Page Six in August 2024, Cardi filed for divorce a second time.
In an October 22 post on X, per Harper’s Bazaar, Cardi said that she “wished the worst on Offset and that he is a dark cloud on anybody’s life he enters.”
2) Her controversial WAP song with Megan Thee Stallion
Cardi’s hit song, WAP, featuring Houston-born rapper Megan Thee Stallion, was released on August 7, 2020. The rap song features explicit lyrics and made headlines upon its release.
According to Business Insider’s report of August 2020, Ben Shapiro, the co-founder and editor of The Daily Wire, broke down the lyrics of the song and condemned it, saying:
"This is what feminists fought for. This is what the feminist movement was all about, and if you say anything differently it's 'cause you're a misogynist, see?"
James Bradley, a Republican politician, also shared the same sentiment. Per Business Insider, he tweeted his opinion on the song:
"WAP (which I heard accidentally) made me want to pour holy water in my ears and I feel sorry for future girls if this is their role model!"
The Cardi and Megan also received backlash for their performance of the song at the 2022 Grammy Awards ceremony.
3) Her beef with Nicki Minaj
Cardi and Nicki Minaj have had a complicated relationship. The rappers’ supposed beef became public after the release of the hit Migos song, Motorsport, in October 2017.
Observers were quick to note that Nicki Minaj and Cardi weren’t in the same shot. Nicki explained that they weren’t able to shoot together because her hairstylist wasn’t available and quelled rumors of a feud.
In April 2018, the Super Bass crooner spoke on the Motorsport drama on the Zane Lowe show. According to Complex’s report from April 2018, Nicki addressed the rumored feud between herself and Cardi B:
“I really fully supported her and up until this recent interview I had never seen her show me genuine love in an interview.”
The rappers seemed cordial as photographers captured them having a moment on the red carpet of the 2018 Met Gala. Things escalated between the duo when clips of an altercation between them at a New York Fashion Week event in September 2018, went viral on different social media platforms.
Cardi also addressed the issue with a lengthy Instagram post, seemingly calling out Nicki. Things seem to have become less heated between the duo although many argue that they are still not in the best of terms.
4) She was charged with assault and reckless endangerment
According to Variety’s report of September 2022, the rapper accepted a plea deal after being charged with assault in a strip club incident involving bartenders Jadie and Baddie Gi.
Cardi B pled guilty to misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault and reckless endangerment and was sentenced to 15 days of community service. The remaining 10 charges of the original indictment were dismissed.
Variety’s report stated that the bartenders, Jadie and Baddie Gi, claimed that Cardi B believed that Jadie slept with her then-husband, Offset, who was scheduled to perform at the club. Thereafter, he ordered her staff to throw bottles and chairs at them. The bartenders were reportedly injured but did not seek medical treatment.
In a statement addressing the incident, reported by Variety, Cardi B seemingly took responsibility for her actions:
"Part of growing up and maturing is being accountable for your actions. As a mother, it’s a practice that I am trying to instill in my children, but the example starts with me. I’ve made some bad decisions in my past that I am not afraid to face and own up to."
5) Her online spat with Madonna
Cardi B gushed over meeting the Material Girl hitmaker for the first time at an Oscars afterparty on March 5, 2018. As a featured performer at Madonna’s Oscars afterparty, Cardi B hung out with her host and posted images of them together on her Instagram.
Per Billboard’s report of June 2018, Cardi captioned the post:
“I met my real life IDOL Madonna. I can’t even believe I performed at her event and it was the most meaningful performance ever.”
Madonna later celebrated the 30-year-anniversary of her 1992 song, Sex Book, in September 2022, via Instagram Story. According to Entertainment Weekly in October 2022, Madonna wrote:
"Now Cardi B can sing about her WAP. Kim Kardashian can grace the cover of any magazine with her naked a** and Miley Cyrus can come in like a wrecking ball. You're welcome bi**hes."
Cardi B didn’t appreciate the clown emoji used in the caption and tweeted about it saying that Madonna could have made her point without "putting clown emojis and getting slick in the mouth.”
Later on, Cardi B posted that she had talked with Madonna and it was beautiful.
6) Controversy about her allegedly drugging and robbing men in the past
In 2019, a video resurfaced where Cardi B allegedly admitted to drugging men and stealing from them back in her days as a stripper. According to People magazine’s report of March 2019, the rapper said in the video:
"I had to go strip, I had to go, ‘Oh yeah, you want to f— me? Yeah, yeah, yeah, let’s go back to this hotel,’ and I drugged n—– up, and I robbed them. That’s what I used to do.”
The video prompted netizens to call out the rapper and express disappointment in her. According to People, Cardi B addressed the issue on Instagram:
"So I’m seeing on social media that a live I did 3 years ago has popped back up. A live where I talked about things I had to do in my past right or wrong that I felt I needed to do to make a living."
Cardi B further explained that the things she did were borne out of the limited options she had and that she had learned from her mistakes. She, however, denied the men in her past being unconscious, adding:
"The men I spoke about in my live were men that I dated that I was involve[d] with, men that were conscious, willing and aware. I have a past that I can’t change — we all do.”
Controversy notwithstanding, Cardi B is one of the most successful artists of contemporary music and made history as the first female rapper to top the Billboard Hot 100 with a solo song in the 21st century.
Her critically acclaimed album, Invasion of Privacy, made her the only solo female artist to win a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
