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 The 26-year-old performer from the Bronx borough of New York
City entered the plea in an appearance at New York Supreme Court
in the borough of Queens.
"Not guilty sir, honor," Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis
Almanzar, told the judge during the roughly 30 minute hearing.
As she entered the court building, wearing a navy blue and pink
pantsuit and carrying a pink handbag, one fan shouted "Free
Cardi B."
The singer, known for chart-topping hits "Bodak Yellow" and "I
like it," waved back with a hand sporting long, pink
fingernails, before being ushered into the court by her lawyer
and two bodyguards.
The rapper surrendered to New York City police last October
after a complaint claimed she was involved in a fight at the
Angels NYC strip club in Queens.
"I ain’t going to jail, I got a daughter,” she declared near the
end of her Los Angeles concert on Saturday.
Cardi B was indicted by a grand jury on felony charges earlier
this month along with two other individuals in her entourage.
According to police, the rapper got into an argument in August
with two of the club's female bartenders. She had accused one of
them of having an affair with her husband, Offset, a member of
the rap trio Migos, according to local media.
"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," Acting Queens District Attorney John Ryan
said in a statement. "This kind of violence won't be tolerated
in our community."
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Cardi B left the Queens court on Tuesday by a side door, wearing a
somber expression, briefly waving to fans before she got in a black
SUV without speaking to press. Her lawyer Jeff Kern, did not respond
to a request for comment.
Her latest single, "Press," is currently at 60 on the Billboard Hot
100 chart. Cover art for the single, in which she says "Cardi don’t
need more press," shows her naked and being escorted out of a
building as older, male photographers push towards her.
The next hearing in the case will be on Sept. 23 for co-defendants
Tawana Jackson-Morel, 36, and Jeffrey Bush, 34, both of Brooklyn.
In an indictment made public Tuesday, Queens prosecutors claimed
that Cardi B and Jackson-Morel used social media to coordinate an
Aug. 15 attack on a 21-year-old bartender and discussed money
payments to people who carried it out.
Several unapprehended females also assaulted the bartender, while
Bush filmed the attack, according to the prosecutors.
Cardi B and Jackson-Morel took part in another attack on Aug. 29
targeting the bartender's 23-year-old sister, also a bartender at
the club, the prosecutors said.
If convicted, the three defendants face up to four years in prison.
(Reporting by Brendan Pierson and Shannon Stapleton in New York;
writing by Andrew Hay; editing by Susan Thomas)
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