Cardi B appeared in a California courtroom on Tuesday to contest a $5 million lawsuit from Kevin Michael Brophy Jr., whose tattoo art is featured on the cover for the Bronx rapper’s mixtape, Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1. Describing the artwork as “raunchy,” the self-described “family-man” Brophy said that cover art “ruined” his private life.
“It felt like my Michelangelo was stolen off the wall and just literally ripped off and robbed and just put wherever these people wanted to put it,” Brophy told the court.
The image shows Cardi in the back of a limousine appearing to receive oral sex from a man with Brophy’s unique back tattoo. A male model posed for the photo, but a digital artist replaced the model’s back with that which featured a tattoo he found on the Internet. The image ended up being Brophy.
Brophy added: “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.”
Brophy says that he sent a cease-and-desist letter sent to Cardi’s team in 2017 but received no response. He labeled it a “complete slap in the face” that caused him “hurt and shame.”
“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,” Brophy said.
In her defense, Cardi says the artist who put Brophy’s tattoo on the cover did so without her knowledge. Cardi is expected to take the witness stand at some point this week.
[Via]
