Cardi B tosses pen at reporter over 'disrespectful' question after assault case cleared

Cardi B threw a pen at a reporter outside a Los Angeles courthouse on Tuesday after he asked her a "disrespectful" question shortly after she was cleared of assault.

Following a civil trial, the Bodak Yellow star was found not liable for the assault and battery claims brought against her by former bodyguard Emani Ellis.

As she exited the courthouse, one male reporter chose to bring up her personal life instead of the case outcome.

"Hey Cardi, you are gorgeous," he called out while she was walking down the courthouse steps, as shown in video footage. "Sources say (estranged husband) Offset is openly boasting about you being pregnant with a fourth child. Do you expect any paternity problems with Stefon Diggs?"

Cardi, who started seeing athlete Diggs last year, then grabbed a pen from a nearby fan and tossed it at the reporter, shouting, "Stop disrespecting me. Do not disrespect me."

While she was being guided to her car, the reporter continued calling after her, saying he still had love for her "even though you just threw something at me."

She turned around to confront him and firmly said, "I do not care. You are disrespectful. Do not do that. Do you see women asking me those kinds of questions? Why do you think, as a man, you should be asking me that? Show some manners and remember your mother raised you to respect women."

During the proceedings, Ellis accused Cardi of scratching her face with her nails and spitting on her during a confrontation outside a Beverly Hills doctor’s clinic in February 2018. The I Like It rapper, who was secretly expecting at the time, told the jury she never laid a hand on Ellis and that it was only a "verbal altercation."

Once the verdict was announced on Tuesday, the 32-year-old expressed her gratitude to her lawyers, the jury, and her fans, and warned that she intends to countersue anyone who files another "baseless" case against her.

The Grammy winner filed for divorce from Migos rapper Offset, the father of her three kids, in July 2024.