American singer and rapper Cardi B has received around $4 Million as compensation for the damages incurred in a libel lawsuit against YouTuber Latasha Kebe for claiming that the singer had “contracted herpes and had taken hard drugs.”
“A federal jury has awarded $1.25 million to Cardi B in a defamation lawsuit against a celebrity news blogger who allegedly spread falsehoods about the rapper. Lawyers for Latasha Kebe, known online as Tasha K, say they’ll appeal”,
On Tuesday, a jury in Atlanta awarded her with $4 million in compensation in her lawsuit against vlogger Tasha K. The entitlement came after jurors charged Tasha K, whose original name is Latasha Kebe, on several counts of privacy invasion, defamation, and triggering emotional distress on the American singer, who is called, Belcalis Almánzar behind the cameras.
As per Cardi B’s claim, the celebrity gossiper, Tasha K, “begun a campaign of making blatantly defamatory statements about the rapper to promote Kebe’s celebrity gossip website for her personal financial gain.”
In fact, one of her 2018 videos saw her saying, “the rapper’s ‘then-unborn child may have intellectual disabilities,’ and the she ‘prostituted for a living,’ ‘got herpes’ and ‘took molly and cocaine’”.
The lawsuit also included that Kebe claimed on her Instagram that “Cardi B was just a Grammy Nominated Prostitute, running around spreading her herpes” and that she “has become obsessed with slandering Plaintiff. In the last 14 months, Kebe has put out at least twenty-three videos regarding plaintiff.”
The federal jury in Georgia’s northern district, where the YouTuber also resides, awarded Cardi B $1 Million on Mon for her sufferings and reputational damage and $250,000 for her medical expenses.
On top of that, on Tuesday, the jury ordered Tasha K to pay an extra $1 million in punitive damages. Her company, Kebe Studios LLC, has also been ordered to pay $500,000 separately.
Not just that, Kebe will reimburse the singer for her personal expense of bringing the complaint of around $1,338,753.47. With that, the total compensation nears $4.1 million.
In a statement to a news outlet, the attorney representing Kebe said, “We disagree with the verdict and we will be filing an appeal.”
Meanwhile, victorious Cardi B said, “After almost four years of repeated libel and slander against me, being able to walk away from this victorious brings me great happiness.”
“During this trial, all of you have learned about the darkest time in my life.” She said, “that moment in time was fueled by the vile, disgusting, and completely false narratives that were repeatedly and relentlessly being shared online. I thought I would never be heard or vindicated and I felt completely helpless and vulnerable. I have never taken for granted the platform that my fame allows me to have, which is why for over three years I dedicated every resource I had to seek justice.”
