Cardi B says she would actually love to be sued. On Instagram Live Monday night (Nov. 9), the rapper told BZR WKND Jamaica organizer Ryan Burke she wished “on the brightest star” he would take her to court, because she’s convinced she would be the one walking away with money.
Her response came hours after Burke said on CVM Television that he plans to sue over her scrapped headlining slot, as reported by the Jamaica Star.
Cardi was set to perform at Kingston’s National Stadium on October 18, but her team announced on October 8 that she was out.
Back then she told fans, “Just know, it wasn’t me.” Now she’s laying out her version in detail, and it doesn’t line up with Burke’s at all.
Burke’s claim on CVM was blunt. “Cardi B received [US]$2.5 million for her performance, and that money was sent directly to her.
She was paid in full,” he said, per the Jamaica Observer. He added that BZR WKND’s legal team is chasing millions after her reps didn’t answer formal repayment demands.
Cardi’s numbers tell a very different story. She says she got a deposit of roughly $900,000 out of an agreed $1 million advance, which was half her total fee. She also says a separate production payment due September 17 never showed up on time.
According to her, a $750,000 transfer only landed after her team told organizers she was pulling out. With staging gear still sitting in Florida and no realistic window to book flights, hotels and freight, she says she sent that money straight back.
“It would be too late for cargo to send. All the flights are extremely expensive. The hotels are extremely expensive,” she said. “You only gave me a week and a half because you were supposed to send the production money.”
The bigger fight seems to be about what the show actually was. Cardi says the promoter tried to frame it as her own concert so she would cover production for the entire event.
No, this is not a Cardi B concert. This is a festival and I’m headlining. This is two different things,” she said.
She also pushed back hard on the festival’s public messaging. Organizers had offered condolences over a family bereavement, and Cardi said her grandfather’s death had nothing to do with the cancellation. She called it “insane” that they would point to it “when it was your unprofessionalism.”
Then she flipped the legal threat around. “It’s one thing for you to get online and lie about me, but baby, one [place] you cannot lie is that courtroom,” she said, warning she would countersue for defamation of character.
Through it all, the Am I the Drama? rapper kept her Jamaican fans separate from the beef. “To my Jamaican people, if somebody else books me out there, I cannot wait to go out there,” she said, insisting the cancellation “was beyond my control.”
For now it’s two very different accounts of the same money, aired on television and Instagram Live. The next move belongs to Burke’s lawyers.
