Cardi B has commented on the controversy surrounding her recent maternity shoot after many thought she was taking a jab at Nicki Minaj.
Recently, the Bronx rapper shared three photos on her Instagram feed: one picture is a sonogram of her son, while the other two feature Cardi posing on a motorcycle in front of a wall with the word “pedophile” graffitied on it. This led some X/Twitter users to speculate if it was a deliberate move by her.
Fans believed the term “pedophile” may be aimed at Minaj because her husband, Kenneth Petty, is a registered sex offender who was convicted of attempted rape in 1995 at the age of 17-years-old. He is not accused of any pedophile offences. Also, her brother, Jelani Maraj, is currently serving 25 years to life in prison after being found guilty of raping his 11-year-old stepdaughter.
“Cardi B seems to be taunting Nicki Minaj’s family by taking photos in front of graffiti that reads ‘pedophile’,” one person wrote on X/Twitter. Another said: “Lol wait why there’s Pedophile written on the wall??……is this a Nicki shade?”
The Grammy Award winner then explained the photos in her own tweet. “First of all, we literally picked a random street because paparazzi was hounding us everywhere,” she began. “This was supposed to be my original first picture and we had to edit the photos in minutes because the shoot got leaked. Didn’t even have time to go over every detail because people were busy trying to expose my pregnancy as [an] ‘a-ha’ moment.”
She continued: “Second: I’m ALWAYS with the shits but I’m not using MY MATERNITY shoot to be funny. Are you dumb??”
Cardi B also hit back at an X/Twitter user who suggested she knew the word was in the back of her photos and went ahead anyway. “‘A team? Btch my makeup artist touched up the picture because we didn’t have time for all that, it says the date and time nobody was paying attention to the graffiti,” she tweeted.
The rapper finished by saying: “Second: if I wanted to be petty I would’ve posted a lot of memes last week. I KEEP TELLIN YALL TO LEAVE ME THE FUK ALONE!! If I’m saying I’m not on that time DONT MAKE ME GET ON THAT TIME. Unrist yourself!!
First of all we literally picked a random street because paparazzi was hounding us everywhere.. this was supposed to be my original first picture and we had to edit the photos in minutes because the shoot got leaked. Didn’t even have time to go over every detail because people… https://t.co/AyHerH9PAr
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) September 2, 2024
A team?? Btch my makeup artist touched up the picture because we didn’t have time for all that, it says the date and time nobody was paying attention to the graffiti… second if I wanted to be petty I would’ve posted a lot of memes last week.. I KEEP TELLIN YALL TO LEAVE ME THE… https://t.co/5P2RVOBCun pic.twitter.com/btMGUkFEzk
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) September 2, 2024
Cardi and Minaj’s feud began in 2017 after they were pitted against one another in the industry and they began to exchange shots at each other in songs. It all escalated into a high-profile brawl at New York Fashion Week in 2018, where the ‘I Like It’ star walked away with a massive welt on her head.
Last month, Cardi B revealed she is pregnant with her third child while simultaneously announcing she had filed for divorce against her estranged husband Offset for the third time. The two already have two children: she gave birth to her daughter Kulture Kiari Cephus in 2018, and her first son – Wave Set Cephus – in 2021.
In other news, Cardi B called out a fan who suggested she was bleaching her skin while pregnant, asking, “Why must y’all be so dumb?”
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