Cardi B emerges victorious in years-long legal battle in which a Southern California man, Kevin Michael Brophy, is suing the rapper for $5 million for showing his tattoo on her debut mixtape, Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. Art. The man claimed that the discovery of his signature lion and snake back tattoo, superimposed on another man who fell on Cardi B in the backseat of a limousine, caused great distress and humiliation in his life as a husband and father of two minors .
A jury panel at the Central District of California Court in Santa Ana ruled in favor of Cardi B, whose legal name is Belcalis Almánzar, “on all counts.” On a previous day of the trial, Almánzar said to the court, “There is no evidence that people actually believe it is him,” followed by “He wasn’t fired from his job. He didn’t get divorced. How did he suffer?”
In response to Brophy’s claims that his tattoo helped make the project a success, Almánzar hit back“It’s really offensive to me as a woman for a man to take responsibility when it’s my voice that’s made me famous since 2014,” he continues, “and that’s what got me here, not Mr. Brophy’s part one.” tattoos ”
While the back tattoo pictured on the cover is indeed similar to Brophy’s, the rapper argued that using the design is “transformative” under intellectual property law and is therefore protected under the First Amendment. Also the lawyers of Almánzar according to a court document that the tattoo was used “anonymously as a single building block” in the composition of the overall image.
Almánzar and her attorneys claimed during the four-day trial that this whole ordeal was Brophy’s attempt to extract as much financial gain as possible from Almánzar’s early records. At the end of the process it was disclosed that both Brophy, Almánzar and Klenord “Shaft” Raphael, the rapper’s former manager, all shook hands, with the latter two graciously accepting the win. Brophy’s attorney also commented that perhaps it would be best for Brophy and his family to close and move on from this chapter of their lives.
The hit rapper has since tweeted about her gratitude and relief after her win. It’s certainly been a long journey, but it’s finally time for the instigators of this excitement to hang up their coats.