Cardi B’s legal expenses have been ordered to be covered by the man who complained against her.
Plaintiff Kevin Brophy filed a lawsuit against the Up rapper for using an image of his back tattoo on the cover of her mixtape Gangsta B**ch Music Vol 1.
Brophy filed a request to reverse the decision after a jury determined in October of this year that the cover image did not otherwise utilize his likeness or portray him negatively.
Due to the late filing and lack of merit, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney declined to reverse the earlier jury’s decision on Wednesday. The judge subsequently ruled that Brophy must cover the rapper’s legal costs.
In a ruling obtained by Rolling Stone, the judge argued that “reasons abound to sustain the jury’s verdict of not liable on all claims” – including that, on the cover, “the model appears non-white with black hair while Brophy is white and has a shaved head”. For this reason, the judge ruled that the man on the mixtape’s cover could not be mistaken for Brophy, despite the copied tattoo.
