Cardi B has been in the music industry for years, but her debut mixtape recently got her into legal trouble. A man whose tattoo was edited into the album’s artwork has sued the rapper, alleging that the cover has caused him emotional distress.
The mixtape – Gangsta Bitch Music Vol 1—shows Cardi B in the back of the car while holding an opened bottle of Corona beer. In front of her, a man has his head between her open legs, suggesting he’s giving oral sex.
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The man (whose face isn’t visible in the cover art) has a large back tattoo featuring a tiger fighting a serpent.
In the lawsuit, Kevin Michael Brophy claims his back tattoo was superimposed on the image (he didn’t pose for the cover art). He’s now seeking $5 million in damages for the distress that he says the mixtape caused him.
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Describing himself as a “man of faith,” Kevin testified in court that Cardi B’s mixtape has damaged his personal life.
“It looks like I’m giving oral sex to somebody that’s not my wife, somebody that’s not my partner, and an image that I never signed off on, ever,” he said. “Being a father of two and a devoted husband and a man of faith as well, this goes against everything that I stand for, and I would never ever sign off on something like this.”
Kevin said he was once proud of his tattoo, calling it a “Michelangelo piece.” But after seeing how it was represented on the mix tape, he says he now finds it “raunchy” and “disgusting.”
“For me, it was something I took a lot of pride in,” he continued. “Now, that image feels devalued. I feel robbed. I feel completely disregarded. There’s a lot of things I would like to be spending time on. But the only way to get this removed was to come here to this courtroom.”
However, Cardi B’s legal team denied that Kevin’s likeness was used for the album. They pointed out that the male model on the cover doesn’t have tattoos on his neck, unlike Kevin.
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“Brophy’s face wasn’t on the mixtape,” Cardi B’s lawyer Peter Anderson said. “She was already popular. It has nothing to do with Brophy.”
Her defence team also pointed out that the male model is Black, while Kevin is white.
Timm Gooden was commission to create the cover art for the mix tape. He was reportedly paid $50 to create the design, and Googled images of “back tattoos,” which is how he found Kevin’s and used it for inspiration.
The case remains ongoing.
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Sources: The Guardian, NBC News,
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