Cardi B has refuted speculations that her recent maternity photo shoot was a subtle dig at Nicki Minaj and her husband, Kenneth Petty.
The "WAP" rapper, who is expecting her third child with Offset, shared a series of photos on social media Sunday to showcase her bare baby bump as she poses on a motorcycle in front of a graffiti-covered storefront.
"I wanna meet my little boo boo soo bad already," Cardi captioned the snaps she shared on Instagram.
The photos quickly gained attention online, but not just for Cardi's pregnancy glow. Apparently, eagle-eyed fans noticed the word "pedophile" spray-painted on the security gate behind Cardi.
The word appeared above "homesick," and it sparked a wave of speculation that Cardi was taking a jab at Minaj's husband, Petty.
Petty is a registered sex offender who was reportedly convicted of attempted first-degree rape in 1995, according to Billboard.
"Cardi B seems to be taunting Nicki Minaj's family by taking photos in front of graffiti that reads 'pedophile,'" one user posted on X, formerly Twitter, while reposting the snaps.
Another added, "Lol wait why there's Pedophile written on the wall??......is this a Nicki shade?"
"She ended Nicki so easily," someone else commented.
"CardiB is calling Nicki's husband an offender. Let's see what Nik does, We know she is afraid to take on Cardi," a different person wrote.
Cardi, who is known for addressing rumors and reports about her head-on, took to X on Monday to shut down the accusations.
"First of all we literally picked a random street because paparazzi was hounding us everywhere... this was supposed to be my original first picture and we had to edit the photos in minutes because the shoot got leaked," Cardi explained in a tweet.
She continued, "Didn't even have time to go over every detail because people were busy trying to expose my pregnancy as 'aha' moment...Second I'm ALWAYS with the s–ts but I'm not using MY MATERNITY shoot to be funny. Are you dumb??"
Cardi elaborated in a follow-up post that the graffiti was unintentional and unnoticed during the shoot.
"Btch my makeup artist touched up the picture because we didn't have time for all that, it says the date and time nobody was paying attention to the graffiti... second if I wanted to be petty I would've posted a lot of memes last week.. I KEEP TELLIN YALL TO LEAVE ME THE F-K ALONE!!" she wrote.
The speculations that Cardi B may have shaded Minaj stemmed from the longstanding beef between the two rappers. The tension between the two reportedly started in 2017 when Cardi joined Remy Ma's performance at Hot 97's Summer Jam festival, where the latter performed her diss track for Minaj, "shETHER," according to Complex.
The "Bodak Yellow" artist and the "Starships" hitmaker engaged in several exchanges via interviews and social media posts soon after. Their feud also reached a peak in 2018 at Harper's Bazaar's ICONS New York Fashion Week party, where Cardi infamously threw her show at Minaj during their altercation.
Meanwhile, Cardi B's recent pregnancy news, which she announced in early August, comes as she prepares to welcome her third child with Offset. The announcement coincided with her second filing for divorce from the Migos rapper.
The couple, who have a history of ups and downs, share two other children: daughter Kulture, 6, and son Wave, 3.
© 2024 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
