A jury agreed with Cardi B on Friday afternoon in a dispute in which the rapper was battling the guy who purportedly inspired her mixtape cover art.
Cardi B appeared in court in Santa Ana, California, to face Kevin Michael Brophy, who charged her with misappropriating his image, according to the Associated Press.
Brophy filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the Grammy-winning rapper in 2017 when a tattoo of a tiger snapping at a snake surrounded by flowers, which covered Brophy's back, was altered onto the back of a model on the cover of her first mixtape, Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1. On the cover, the tattooed beauty is pictured having oral s** with the rapper in a limousine.
Cardi B expressed her appreciation on Twitter after winning the trial: "IM BEYOND GRATEFUL," she tweeted.
I just won this lawsuit …Im soo emotional right now 🥲…I wanna kiss Gods feet right now …..IM BEYOND GRATEFUL!!!!
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) October 21, 2022
Brophy requested $5 million in compensatory damages, claiming that the image of his tattoo featured on the record — which was taken off the internet — "devalued" the work, which took months to produce, according to Courthouse News. Brophy collaborated with tattoo artist Tim Hendricks to create the artwork.
During his testimony, Brophy stated, "This was my Michelangelo." "People would come up to me: " He went on: "It just felt devalued. My Michelangelo was stolen off the wall." Brophy also said he was "humiliated" as a father of small children.
Cardi B claimed that she was not involved in the album art and that Brophy's life and career had not been harmed as a result of her use of a fragment of his tattoo for her work. According to the Associated Press, she previously claimed the album art was transformational and hence came under fair use.