Cardi B Sued for Posting Her Own Photo on Social Media

Cardi B is facing a lawsuit for posting a photo of herself on social media.

On Oct. 1, photographer Jawad Elatab sued the Bronx, N.Y., rapper for copyright infringement in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. In the lawsuit, Elatab says he took a photo of Cardi wearing a latex purple pantsuit at a Netflix event and registered it with the United States Copyright Office in 2019. In April of 2021, Cardi shared a screenshot of the photo on X, which Elatab claims constitutes infringement on the copyright.

“Without permission or authorization from Plaintiff, Defendant volitionally copied and thereafter displayed the Photograph on the Account as part of a social media post,” the lawsuit reads.

Elatab claims he found out about the post in March of 2023, and served Cardi with a complaint that May and the following March, to no avail. The photographer is now suing Cardi for direct copyright infringement and is seeking unspecified damages in a jury trial.

XXL has reached out to Cardi B’s team for comment, but did not hear back as of press time.

Cardi is coming off a win in another civil lawsuit in August. In that case, she was accused of assaulting and spitting on a security guard at an OB-GYN office back in 2019. Cardi was found not liable following a trial, during which she and her accuser testified.

Read an Excerpt From the New Lawsuit Against Cardi B