Man Sues Cardi B for $5m for Using his Back Tattoo in Lewd Cover Art – Cardi B is being sued by a “man of faith” for projecting his back tattoo on a male model who appears to conduct oral sex on the rapper on the cover of her debut mixtape. Kevin Michael Brophy is suing the Grammy-winning singer in federal court in southern California for copyright infringement, asking $5 million in damages. The rapper’s real name, Belcalis Almánzar, was in court and is likely to testify during the trial.
Jurors were shown the cover art for Gangsta Bitch Music Vol 1, the rapper’s debut mixtape. Almánzar is shown sitting in the backseat of a car, peering into the camera and drinking a bottle of Corona beer, while a man with a back tattoo places his head between her open legs. Brophy’s lawyer, A Barry Cappello, told the court that the photograph had “disrupted” his client’s life and that it had also distressed his wife, who initially questioned whether her husband was the model on the cover art.
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Brophy told the court that he previously thought his back tattoo, which depicts a tiger battling a serpent, was a “Michelangelo piece” but has since become “raunchy and disgusting.” “It looks that I’m giving oral sex to somebody who isn’t my wife or partner, and it’s an image that I never signed off on, ever,” Brophy told the court. “As a father of two, a devoted husband, and a man of faith, this goes against everything I stand for, and I would never sign off on something like this.”
Peter Anderson, Almánzar’s lawyer, denied that Brophy’s image was utilized for the cover art, citing that the person in the image did not have tattoos on his neck, although Brophy has. “Brophy’s face wasn’t on the mixtape,” Anderson explained in his opening remarks. “She was already popular. It has nothing to do with Brophy. ” Brophy argued that everyone who knew him thought he was on the mixtape cover. According to the defense filings, the model who posed for the images was Black, whereas Brophy is white.
“For me, it was something I took a lot of pride in,” Brophy said about his tattoo. “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.”
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According to Brophy’s lawyer, Timm Gooden, who designed the mixtape cover art, was paid $50 for his work. After submitting an original draft, he was urged to find another tattoo, so he Googled “back tattoos” before seeing Brophy’s. Gooden, according to Almánzar, only used a “small portion” of the tattoos without her knowledge. Previously, she stated that the cover art was a transformative fair use of Brophy’s likeness. The testimony is scheduled to continue four days, with deliberations beginning on Friday.
