The guard, Emani Ellis, testified that Cardi — four months pregnant at the time — hurled racial slurs, threatened her job, and left her with a facial injury that later required plastic surgery.

 

 

Cardi B’s courtroom dramas have often blurred the lines between celebrity spectacle and serious legal consequences, but the testimony heard this week in Los Angeles has put a particularly violent and disturbing spotlight on the rap superstar.

On Monday, August 25, 2025, Emani Ellis, a female security guard, testified that the Grammy-winning rapper — then four months pregnant — physically and verbally attacked her during a tense encounter at an obstetrician’s office in Beverly Hills in February 2018.

Ellis, who worked at the office as security personnel, alleged that Cardi B spat on her, hurled racial slurs, belittled her job, and even slashed her face with one of her long fingernails during the altercation.

The incident, she claimed, was sparked by a misunderstanding when she approached the rapper while holding her phone. According to Ellis, Cardi immediately assumed she was attempting to take unauthorized photos of her during the private appointment.

“After she heard me say her name, she turned back around and the first thing out of her mouth was, ‘Why the f—k you telling people that you see me?’” Ellis told the court, describing the confrontation in detail.

She insisted she was not photographing Cardi but simply holding her phone. “I tried to calm her down and assure her that I didn’t tell anyone that I seen her, and she was extremely upset.”

 

 

What began as a heated exchange quickly spiraled out of control, according to Ellis. She testified that Cardi B threatened to have her fired, insulted her appearance, spat directly in her face, and called her racist names.

At one point, Ellis claimed, the rapper swung at her but missed. The most serious allegation, however, was that Cardi’s fingernail cut her cheek deeply enough that Ellis required plastic surgery afterward.

The civil suit, filed by Ellis in Los Angeles Superior Court, accuses Cardi B of assault and battery. The rapper, seated in court wearing a short hairstyle and black blazer, appeared calm and composed as her accuser relayed the harrowing account.

Cardi, born Belcalis Almánzar, has denied the claims through her legal team, though she has yet to publicly comment on this particular case.

This lawsuit is just the latest addition to Cardi B’s turbulent history of legal entanglements, often linked to her temper and public outbursts.

In 2018, just months after the alleged doctor’s office fight, Cardi turned herself in to New York police over a separate incident at a Queens strip club, where she was accused of ordering an assault on two bartenders.

That case dragged on for years before she eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in 2022, accepting community service as part of her sentence.

 

 

Then, in 2023, she made headlines again when she hurled a microphone into the crowd during a Las Vegas performance after a fan splashed liquid on her mid-show. The mic struck another woman, leading to yet another lawsuit for assault and battery.

Cardi dismissed the incident on social media, joking about the “precision” of her throw, but the lawsuit demonstrated a pattern that critics have seized on: a superstar who struggles to control her temper in public.

The testimony from Ellis also added a new dimension to that pattern. She alleged that Cardi not only lashed out physically but also verbally degraded her in ways that cut beyond the physical altercation.

“She body-shamed me, called me racial slurs, told me I was nothing,” Ellis said on the stand.

These accusations, if proven true, could inflict lasting reputational damage on Cardi, who has often marketed herself as a woman of the people, proud of her Bronx upbringing and deeply connected to her fans.

 

 

Inside the courtroom, the contrast between the calm, designer-dressed celebrity and the raw testimony of a working-class security guard made the proceedings all the more striking.

Cardi, who rose to fame after her viral social media presence and breakout role on “Love & Hip Hop: New York,” has built a career on her unapologetic personality.

Songs like “Bodak Yellow,” “WAP,” and “Up” established her as a chart-dominating force, while her brash, unfiltered persona endeared her to millions online. Yet it is that same bluntness and unpredictability that has now placed her in the defendant’s chair multiple times.

The 2018 altercation also highlights the precarious relationship celebrities often have with privacy, especially during vulnerable moments like a pregnancy-related doctor’s visit.

Ellis maintained she never tried to take a photo, but Cardi’s alleged reaction underscores the paranoia and pressure celebrities feel when their private lives intersect with their public image.

Cardi, who later gave birth to her first child, Kulture Kiari, in July 2018, was intensely protective of her pregnancy at the time, rarely discussing it until late into her term.