A Los Angeles judge has sided with Cardi B and denied Emani Ellis, the security guard who unsuccessfully sued the rapper for assault in September, a new trial.
Ellis previously alleged that Cardi had assaulted her in a hallway of a Beverly Hills obstetrician’s office, which the rapper attended while attempting to conceal a pregnancy in 2018. Months ago, Cardi told jurors she made an effort to hide the medical visit because she didn’t want to announce she was expecting her first child with Migos and solo star Offset at that time, but claimed Ellis was recording her and blew her cover.
While she admitted that the pair got into a “verbal altercation”, she denied that she assaulted Ellis, who alleged her cheek was cut with a three-inch nail and she was spat on, leaving her “deeply traumatised”.
After deliberating for less than an hour, the jury came to a quick verdict in the rapper’s favour. Following that lawsuit being rejected, Ellis asked for a new trial, arguing that Cardi had “intimidated” jurors by throwing a pen at a reporter while talking to the media.
Cardi’s lawyers called Ellis’ request “baseless” and “absurd”, and said it should be “rejected out of hand.” At a court hearing on Friday (December 5), Judge Ian C. Fusselman rejected the pen-toss argument and finalised a ruling that denied Ellis a new trial, per Rolling Stone.
😱 Cardi B Angrily Throws Pen After Asked About Offset-Stefon Diggs Triangle
🔗 https://t.co/MSw0IFP0ib pic.twitter.com/C9tUdzUb78
— TMZ (@TMZ) September 2, 2025
“Even if plaintiff had provided sufficient evidence of these asserted facts,” the judge wrote, “the court finds unpersuasive the speculation that defendant’s purported action of throwing a pen could have ‘intimidated’ the jurors into finding against Plaintiff given the nature of Plaintiff’s claims.”
One issue unresolved by Friday’s hearing was regarding the conduct of Ellis’ attorney Rosen Janfaza, who Cardi’s lawyers asked the judge to punish for alleged misconduct during the trial, including by asking the musician on the witness stand if she had any gang affiliations. Judge Fusselman did not decide that issue yesterday, but is expected to do so in the coming weeks.
The September trial spurned several viral clips of Cardi on the witness stand delivering several funny quips, often pausing to make bemused faces in her cross-examination and delivering dry one-liners about the alleged incident.
In one video, she was seen being asked how she knew Ellis was physically bigger than her, to which she responded by pointing towards her own eyes. She then flipped her hair over her shoulder with pride and told the courtroom she was “130 pounds at that time”, another line that got a lot of response on social media.
Elsewhere, the attorney questioned how her hair had changed from a cropped black wig the day before to a long blonde and then black wig.
“Yesterday you had black hair, short hair. Today it’s blonde and long. Which one is your real hair? Or are they both real?” he asked her.
She laughed before clarifying they were wigs, to which the lawyer responded: “Okay. Sorry, I didn’t know that. It’s a good wig today, then.”
At the time, that line of questioning led many on social media to question the apparent misogynistic and racial undertone of his approach, particularly in light of comments made about her wig and the length of her fake nails.
Cardi B unveils Courtroom Edition vinyl for ‘AM I THE DRAMA?’ pic.twitter.com/9sIlXB9uu9
— Pop Base (@PopBase) December 1, 2025
Cardi’s released her latest album ‘Am I The Drama?’ this year, and it was given a two-star review from NME, and described as “overstuffed and underwhelming”.
“Ultimately, ‘Am I The Drama?’ is palatable enough for a one-time listen, but nothing here demands a replay,” it read. “Where ‘Invasion of Privacy’ felt fun and feel-good, its follow-up is bloated, derivative and unsure of its own identity. Cardi doesn’t just recycle her past tricks, she half-asses other people’s legacies too, and the result is a bloated, soulless shell that never finds its own voice.”
Cash Cobain, Janet Jackson, Kehlani, Lizzo, Selena Gomez, Summer Walker, Tyla and Megan Thee Stallion are all guest features on the new LP.
Ahead of its release, she promoted it in a few unorthodox ways, including recording public service announcements for the NYC subway.
