Rapper Cardi B is facing assault and battery charges after allegedly hitting a woman with a microphone two years ago while performing in Las Vegas.
The woman, identified as Jane Doe, went to Cardi’s headline show at Drai’s Beachclub on July 29, 2023, while on her first solo trip to Las Vegas, according to a complaint filed in the Eighth Judicial Court in Clark County, Nevada, People reports.
In the lawsuit, Cardi, 32, allegedly “appeared onstage under visibly high-temperature conditions and, while holding a microphone, verbally requested that the audience splash water on her” during her performance.
“Splash me down. That s** feel good. Put that s** in my p**y, bitch. Come on,” she says to onlookers in the video. However, it’s unclear if the video was shot before or after the incident.
According to the complaint, Cardi “made repeated gestures and statements encouraging concertgoers to throw water, implicitly authorizing and inviting light splashing from drinks.”
Doe claims Cardi “further demonstrated her consent and participation by pouring water from a bottle over her body while onstage,” plus she “physically reacted to splashes by slapping her posterior while audience-thrown liquids made contact with her.”
Doe splashed a small portion of her drink in Cardi’s direction in an attempt to behave “in accordance with the environment,” as well as “in a manner consistent with other attendees,” according to the lawsuit.
The video, which has now gone viral, shows Cardi performing “Bodak Yellow” at a daytime party when a spectator throws a drink at her, causing splashes of liquid to strike her face. According to XXL, the Grammy Award-winning rapper threw her microphone at the woman in response to the unacceptable behavior.
Doe argues that Cardi acted in “apparent anger and without warning” by “suddenly and forcefully” throwing her microphone “directly” at her, and that she immediately experienced “immediate apprehension of an imminent harmful contact” as a result.
Once the microphone was thrown, she claims it did come into contact with her, “resulting in offensive and unconsented physical contact and causing physical injury.”
In her complaint, Doe argues that Cardi should have been aware that the microphone “presented a foreseeable risk of physical injury when thrown,” thereby committing “an unjustified and retaliatory act that resulted in harmful and offensive contact” with Doe.
“I don’t want to look [like] that ghetto bitch,” Cardi, however, said in response to her heated moment, according to Page Six. “I said splash my p—y, not my face, bitch.”
According to Doe, Cardi’s actions were “excessive, disproportionate, and undertaken in a public venue, causing additional reputational and emotional harm.”
Doe is claiming that she suffered “severe emotional distress, shock, humiliation, and physical injury” in her assault, battery, and negligence lawsuit. She is also suing Drai’s Management Group for negligence.
Furthermore, the microphone was auctioned off for $99,000, which Doe now alleges “exacerbated [her] emotional distress.”
She claims she has “suffered physical pain, emotional distress, reputational damage, embarrassment, and harassment from both media and members of the public,” and is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
After the incident, a criminal battery investigation was launched against the rapper, but the case was closed due to “insufficient evidence.”
In a statement to People, Doe stated, “What has been written off as a joke by many people is actually a traumatic experience that has significantly impacted my well-being and quality of life. I am seeking justice in the hopes of holding Cardi B accountable for her misdeeds, as no celebrity is above the law.”
Meanwhile, according to Page Six, Cardi has previously called out fans, most notably after they accused her of copying Nicki Minaj’s style.
She also told fans to “shut the f**k up” after several claimed that she got back together with her estranged husband, Offset, in 2023.
