"We literally picked a random street"— Cardi B responds to backlash from fans about controversial graffiti in her maternity photoshoot

Cardi B has addressed the backlash from fans over a controversial piece of graffiti that appeared in her recent maternity photoshoot. The issue arose after fans noticed the word "ped*phile" written in white graffiti behind the rapper in one of the images, leading to speculation that it was a subtle dig at Nicki Minaj's husband, Kenneth Petty.

On September 2, Cardi B posted a series of photos on Instagram in which she is seen showing off her baby belly in a black and blue leather trench coat combined with a gray leather push-up bra and leather boots that extend up to the thighs, sitting on a motorbike. The graffiti in the background attracted many people, and many believed Cardi B was trying to diss Petty, who is a registered s*x offender.

On Monday, while addressing the rumors on X, Cardi wrote:

"First of all we literally picked a random street because paparazzi was hounding us everywhere.. "

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Cardi B clarifies the choice of location for her photoshoot

Kenneth Petty is 46 years old and in 1995, was convicted of attempted r*pe and is a registered s*x offender. Terms such as ‘ped*phile’ which Cardi featured in her photoshoot were enough to make most social media users assume that she was directly attacking Petty.

One user on Instagram commented:

"You dedicated your whole maternity shoot to someone else?"

Another user speculated:

“I just wanna know why it say “ped*phile” in the back 🤔 yall couldn’t paint over that or was it intentional.”

In response to the growing controversy, Cardi B took to X on Monday to clarify the situation. She explained that the location for the shoot was chosen randomly and that there was no intention to target anyone.

"This was supposed to be my original first picture and we had to edit the photos in minutes because the shoot got leaked," she wrote.

She also pointed out that the photoshoot was rushed due to the leak, which left little time for detailed planning or scrutiny of the background. Cardi emphasized that while she’s not one to shy away from confrontation, her maternity shoot was not the place for it. She added:

"Didn’t even have time to go over every detail because people were busy trying to expose my pregnancy as ‘aha’ moment… Second I’m ALWAYS with the sh*ts but I’m not using MY MATERNITY shoot to be funny. Are you dumb??”

The first known disagreement between Cardi B and Nicki Minaj is that in 2017, Migos made a song MotorSport, and enlisted Cardi to collaborate with them, much to the disappointment of Nicki Minaj whose collaboration with the same group was going to be out soon.

Their quarrel escalated into a physical fight during the Harper‘s Bazaar Icons event that was held in New York Fashion Week in September 2018.

Petty was more recently in September of 2023, placed on house arrest for 120 days after making threats against Cardi B’s estranged husband, Offset, which continued the rivalry between the two parties.

With her third child on the way, Cardi B continues to navigate her career while preparing for the new addition.