21 Jan CARDI B TELLS COURT VLOGGER CLAIMS LEFT HER ‘SUICIDAL’

Cardi B has testified that allegations made against her online by vlogger Latasha Kebe, also known as Tasha K, led to her having ‘suicidal thoughts’ and feeling ‘defeated and depressed’, as the New York rapper’s libel lawsuit in the US unfolds.

The action, filed in March 2019, is centred on claims that Tasha K levelled various false accusations against Cardi B in dozens of videos on her unWinewithTashaK YouTube channel in 2018 and 2019, including that Cardi B had worked as a prostitute and contracted herpes.

On 13 January 2022, Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, gave evidence in a federal court in Atlanta, Georgia, about the effect of the online posts on her, saying, in an emotional testimony:

‘I had suicidal thoughts every single day, to the point that I felt like I was being a burden to my family.’

The rapper, who is married to fellow musician Offset, and welcomed daughter Kulture Kiari in July 2018, said she felt ‘defeated and depressed’ and ‘didn’t want to sleep with my husband’. She added that online comments arising from the allegation that she had contracted herpes left her feeling that she ‘didn’t deserve my kid’.

To succeed in her libel lawsuit, Cardi B will have to satisfy the court not just that Tasha K published statements which damaged her reputation, but that the statements were published with malicious intent.

Tasha K previously brought a $3 million countersuit against Cardi B, alleging that the Grammy Award-winning artist had made threats against her: that claim was dismissed last July, with the judge citing a lack of evidence.