Previously, a man named Kevin Brophy filed a $5 million lawsuit against the 'WAP' raptress, claiming his back tattoo had been misappropriated with her 'Gangsta B***h Music Vol. 1' cover art.
- Dec 29, 2022
AceShowbiz - Cardi B's victory in back tattoo cover art trial has been approved by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney has upheld the "WAP" raptress' victory and ordered the plaintiff to pay the femcee's legal fees.
On Wednesday, December 28, Judge Cormac ruled that plaintiff Kevin Brophy's request to overturn the October 21 jury verdict was both too late and lacked merit, per Rolling Stone. He subsequently ordered Kevin to pay the Grammy-winning rapper's attorney's fees and costs.
In his ruling, Judge Cormac stated that Kevin's lawyers failed to preserve their right to file the Rule 50 motion before the case was submitted to the jury for deliberation. "The untimeliness of [Kevin's] Rule 50 is reason enough to deny it. But the motion also wants for substantive merit," he wrote in a statement.
The judge further said the jurors heard competing evidence on a variety of issues and "reasons abound to sustain the jury's verdict of not liable on all claims." He ruled that "Gangsta B***h Music Vol. 1" cover art involves a non-white male model who posed for the original photo and whose own back tattoo was covered up with a portion of Kevin's elaborate tiger and serpent tattoo ripped from the internet.
The judge also pointed out that both Kevin and Cardi's former manager testified at trial that "the model appears non-white with black hair while [Kevin] is white and has a shaved head." He continued, "The jury had an ample basis for its verdict. For example, the jury could have reasonably concluded that the back tattoo on the model on the mixtape cover at issue in this suit was not sufficiently identifiable with [Kevin] to constitute misappropriation of his likeness or depiction in a false light. Because the model's face is not visible, identification based on facial appearance is impossible."
Previously, Kevin filed a $5 million lawsuit against Cardi, claiming his back tattoo had been misappropriated and later asked the jury to overturn their verdict because they allegedly misapplied the law, noting it was up to the court to correct their error.
On October 21, a California federal jury rejected claims that Cardi misused Kevin's image on the cover of her first 2016 mixtape album "Gangsta B***h Music Vol. 1". In the said cover art, Cardi's seen in the back of a limousine, staring into the camera, taking a swig from a Corona, and holding the back of man's head as he appears to perform oral sex on her.
According to the jury, the cover art "did not violate plaintiff Kevin Michael Brophy's publicity or privacy rights by depicting an altered photo of another man with [Kevin's] unique back tattoo performing oral sex on the popular rapper.
Celebrating her win, Cardi turned to Twitter to express her excitement. "I just won this lawsuit …Im soo emotional right now," she wrote at the time. "I wanna kiss Gods feet right now …..IM BEYOND GRATEFUL!!!!"
