Cardi B awarded $1.25 million in libel lawsuit against YouTuber
The blogger Tasha K made claims in 2019 that the rapper was a prostitute who had contracted sexually transmitted infections
There’s nothing in this world Cardi B likes more than checks, and she’s due to receive a big one after a federal jury awarded her $1.25 million in damages in a libel lawsuit. The rapper filed the suit in 2019 after celebrity gossip blogger Tasha K posted more than 20 videos that spread “malicious rumors” about her, including that she was a prostitute who had contracted sexually transmitted infections and used cocaine.
Cardi B, real name Belcalis Almanzar, sued both Youtuber Tasha K and a former friend Starmarie Ebony Jones for the videos which garnered millions of views. These videos were shared throughout 2018 to Tasha K’s (real name Latasha Kebe) to an audience of over one million followers.
Some of the other rumors spread in these videos included that the rapper had mouth herpes (calling her “Herpes B”), “fucked herself with beer bottles on fucking stripper stages,” and that her child would be born with intellectual disabilities.
Both Kebe and Jones were found guilty of libel, slander, and invasion of privacy in two separate cases, as Jones lives in New York and Kebe lives in Georgia.
Libel cases are only won if the plaintiff can prove the defendant “intentionally or recklessly disregarded the truth” in their claims. During Kebe’s testimony, she told jurors she knowingly published the lies in order monetize her videos and help grow her business. Many of the videos still remain on Kebe’s YouTube page, unWINEwithTashaK, despite a cease and desist filed by Almanzar in 2018.
The “WAP” rapper stated the videos left her “extremely suicidal” and that “only an evil person could do that.” During her testimony, Almanzar stated she suffered from fatigue, anxiety, weight loss, and migraines due to the swirling rumors. She also claimed the videos pooled over into her Instagram comments, as users questioned if the mother should kiss her child on the lips in reference to the herpes rumor.
The rapper was awarded $1 million in damages and $250,000 for medical expenses related to the slander.