Cardi B may struggle to get her defamation damages as YouTuber files for bankruptcy protection
The YouTuber who defamed Cardi B has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US, suggesting that the rapper may struggle to claim the millions in damages she was awarded by the courts.Cardi B – real name Belcalis Almanzar – sued YouTube creator Latasha Kebe over various claims that the latter made about the former in her YouTube videos. That included, legal papers said, that Almanzar “was a prostitute … was a user of cocaine … had and still has herpes … had and still has HPV … engaged in a debasing act with a beer bottle and … committed infidelity”.Almanzar denied all the allegations that Kebe had made, and told the court that false rumours spread by the YouTuber had had a negative impact on her mental health, resulting in the rapper becoming depressed and suicidal.Kebe, meanwhile, basically admitted in court that she didn’t fact-check any of the allegations made about Almanzar on her YouTube channel, even when the rapper was actively denying those claims.A jury found Kebe liable for defamation in January last year, awarding the rapper nearly $4 million in damages.