Cardi B said in court Wednesday she didn’t spit on or scratch a security guard who has sued the rapper, accusing her of assault.
Emani Ellis’ lawsuit stemmed from a 2018 altercation outside an obstetrician’s office while Cardi B was pregnant with her first child, Kulture.
“She couldn’t get a scratch from me because I didn’t touch her,” Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, testified in a Los Angeles County court.
The rapper said she thought Ellis, who was a security guard for the building, was “about to beat my a**” in the altercation that had the two chest-to-chest at one point, but she said it never became physical.
“She didn’t touch me,” Cardi said. “She was going to touch me, but she didn’t get to touch me.”
Cardi said she had been visiting Los Angeles doing promotional work in February 2018 around that year’s NBA All-Star Game.
She was four months into her pregnancy with the first of her three children with rapper Offset. At that point, her pregnancy was not announced to the public.
Cardi said Ellis followed her to her fifth-floor appointment, and that she heard the security guard say her name into a phone and appeared to be filming her.
“I told her, ‘Why are you recording?’” Cardi testified, “and she said, ‘Oh my bad.’ She practically apologized.’”
But the argument grew increasingly heated, she said.
“As we were arguing she’s backing me, she’s walking into me,” Cardi said.
A significant chunk of the testimony was spent on the acrylic nails with rhinestones Cardi had that week and whether they could do the damage that she’s accused of doing.
“It wasn’t a shape that was harming, it was coffin-shaped,” she said. “They weren’t sharp.”
Ellis, who lost her job over the incident, testified earlier in the trial that the incident left her humiliated and traumatized and claimed the scar on her face required cosmetic surgery.
The security guard is seeking damages that include medical expenses, compensation for emotional and physical suffering, and lost wages.
She does not specify a total amount in the lawsuit but Cardi said from the stand that she is “suing me for $24 million.”
Tierra Malcolm, the receptionist from the doctor’s office who got between the two women and broke up the argument, gave testimony Wednesday that mostly supported Cardi’s account.
She said she came into the hallway after hearing a ruckus outside but saw no physical fighting.
Malcolm later noticed a scratch on her own face, that she assumed came from Ellis, because she had been facing her with her back to Cardi.
Asked to characterize the argument, Malcolm said she wasn’t sure if she could swear to it in court.
The trial is expected to resume and conclude next week.
