Cardi B has found herself in hot water after sharing maternity photos that some fans believe were aimed at her longtime rival, Nicki Minaj.
The photos in question feature the expectant mother proudly showing off her baby bump while wearing a vintage jacket and posing on a motorcycle.
The snaps were meant to be a celebration of her pregnancy, but eagle-eyed fans quickly noticed a controversial detail in the background—a piece of graffiti with the word “pedophile” scrawled on the wall.
Fans immediately took to social media to speculate whether the choice of backdrop was a subtle jab at Nicki Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty, who is a registered sex offender.
Given the history of public feuds between the two rap queens, some were quick to believe that Cardi was reigniting their infamous rivalry.
One user on X (formerly Twitter) questioned, “Lol wait why there’s Pedophile written on the wall??……is this a Nicki shade?”
Cardi wasted no time responding to the speculation, taking to X to set the record straight.
“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. Didn’t even have time to go over every detail because people were busy trying to expose my pregnancy as “aha” moment…,” she wrote.
The rapper, known for her no-nonsense attitude, made it clear that the graffiti was purely coincidental and not an intentional dig at Nicki.
“Second I’m ALWAYS with the sh*&s but I’m not using MY MATERNITY shoot to be funny. Are you dumb??”
Cardi also addressed the claims that a “team” was behind the alleged shade. “A team??[Girl] 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…” she explained, adding, “If I wanted to be petty I would’ve posted a lot of memes last week.”
In her final message to the doubters, Cardi B didn’t hold back: “I KEEP TELLIN YALL TO LEAVE ME THE [ ALONE] !! If I’m saying I’m not on that time DONT MAKE ME GET ON THAT TIME. Unrist yourself!!
