A US YouTuber who was found to have defamed Cardi B has been ordered to pay a further £2 million (€2.3 million) to the rapper – bringing the total costs to over £3 million (€3.5 million).
Latasha Kebe, known online as Tasha K, subjected the WAP singer to a “malicious campaign” of abuse and was previously made to pay damages of almost £1 million.
Lawyers said that a series of “slanderous and defamatory statements” written by Kebe had caused the singer “embarrassment, humiliation, mental anguish, and emotional distress”.
On Tuesday a jury in the state of Georgia ordered that Kebe pay a further £1,109,625.00 in punitive damages and £990,342.88 in legal fees, documents obtained by the PA news agency show.
Kebe now owes Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar, a total of £3,027,405.38.
Kebe is the host of the YouTube channel UnWineWithTashaK a “celebrity gossip site” which has 1 million subscribers.
During the trial the singer’s lawyers said the online personality had waged “a malicious campaign to damage and destroy (Cardi B’s) reputation among her fans and the consuming public”.
They said the platform was used to “publish and spread malicious rumours, slanderous assertions, and false information about celebrities … for (Kebe’s) personal financial gain”.
The onslaught of “degrading and harassing statements” began in early 2018 and at one point included an assertion the singer “prostituted for a living”.
Cardi B is well known for other hits including Thru Your Phone, I Like It and Bodak Yellow which appear on her 2018 album Invasion Of Privacy.
