Cardi B is clearing the air after online speculations suggested that her public dispute with spouse Offset was merely a publicity stunt to promote their new music.
One month after the 30-year-old “Up” artist, and the 31-year-old Migos star, engaged in an online argument over cheating accusations, the duo put their differences aside and announced their new joint single “Jealousy.”
Earlier in the week, Offset previewed a teaser, in which he mimicked James Brown’s eccentric CNN interview from 1988, using the footage to comment on gossip about “drama” with his partner.
The video included a cameo from actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who posed as CNN host Sonya Friedman to interview Offset. Following the preview, social media users started speculating about whether the disagreement between the rappers was planned.
In reaction, the “Bodak Yellow” performer responded to a social media user who stated, “We said it was a stunt they pulled with their relationship and that’s exactly what is was. Lmfaoo.”
“It wasn’t no STUNT,” Cardi B said on Instagram, according to screengrab shared on Twitter.
“Tasha K made some ish up and yall was laughing about it and happy ass hell about it. Now that we putting it in the music is a stunt … Naaa baby be mad at the one who started trolling wit it.”
She further stated on Twitter: “THEY C—-IE WAS SO WET WHEN THE LIE WAS GOING AROUND NOW it’s a different narrative when we put it in the music ….OOOO IM POPPIN IT ON THIS SONG !!!!”
In her Twitter post, Cardi was referencing her 2019 defamation suit against blogger Tasha K, who made a series of negative assertions about her. The court eventually ruled in Cardi’s favor.
In the meantime, the public confrontation between Cardi and Offset in late June initiated when Offset shared an Instagram Story that read, “My wife f—ed a N—- on me gang yall n—- know how I come.”
Replying, Cardi started a Twitter Space discussion by singing a portion of Keyshia Cole’s “I Should Have Cheated” first verse.
“First of all, let me say, you can’t accuse me of all the things you know that you are guilty of. Sing it with me, y’all! And I see that it is easy for you to blame everything on me. Yes, honey!”
“Don’t focus on that country man,” Cardi advised listeners about Offset. “That dude is spiraling and overthinking.”
She went on to say, “Come on, folks. I’m Cardi B, dude. I reckon people forget I’m Cardi B. If I was distributing this p—- to someone, it would be known. I’m not just anyone.”
At that time, a source revealed that they were simply having “a little quarrel”: “They’re very intense so go back and forth quite a bit. They’ll hash it out like they always do.”
A week afterward, the pair made their first public outing in Paris, where they were captured hand-in-hand exiting a Balenciaga shop. They also marked their daughter Kulture Kiari’s 5th birthday. (Cardi and Offset also have a 22-month-old son, Wave Set.)
Throughout their relationship, there have been rumours of Offset’s cheating, including in 2018 when footage emerged of him in bed with several women.
Cardi even filed for divorce in September 2020, amid rumours that the Migos rapper had cheated — but they ultimately decided to resolve their issues.
