Rapper Cardi B pleads guilty to two misdemeanors in New York strip club fight

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Grammy Award-winning rapper Cardi B pleaded guilty on Thursday to two misdemeanors stemming from a 2018 fight in a New York City strip club, prosecutors said, adding the rapper was sentenced to 15 days of community service.

Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar, also agreed to a three-year order of protection for the victims. Her plea covered one count of third-degree assault and one count of second-degree reckless endangerment.

During the 2018 incident, police said the rapper was at Angels Strip Club in Queens where she argued with two of the club’s bartenders and a fight broke out thereafter. She had accused one of them of having an affair with her husband.

“The victims allegedly had glass bottles hurled at them, alcoholic drinks thrown in their faces and one woman’s head was slammed into the bar,” prosecutors said earlier in their description of the incident.

In 2019, the rapper pleaded not guilty to felony assault charges relating to the fight. The singer, known for chart-topping hits such as “Bodak Yellow” and “I Like It,” was indicted in 2019 by a grand jury on felony charges along with two other individuals in her entourage.

“Part of growing up and maturing is being accountable for your actions,” the rapper said in a statement after a hearing on Thursday. “As a mother, it’s a practice that I am trying to instill in my children, but the example starts with me.”

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Josie Kao)