Cardi B denies shading Nicki Minaj in new maternity shoot

Cardi B has addressed rumors suggesting she was taking a jab at fellow rapper Nicki Minaj in her recent maternity photoshoot. The speculation arose after fans noticed the word "pedophile" graffitied in the background of one of her Instagram posts, which some believed was aimed at Minaj's husband, Kenneth Petty, a registered sex offender.

The 31-year-old "Bodak Yellow" singer, who has had a tumultuous history with Minaj, quickly took to social media to set the record straight. Cardi explained on X (formerly Twitter) that the photoshoot location was chosen randomly due to the presence of paparazzi. "First of all, we literally picked a random street because paparazzi was hounding us everywhere," she wrote, noting that the team had to edit the photos quickly due to a leak. "Didn’t even have time to go over every detail because people were busy trying to expose my pregnancy as an ‘aha’ moment… Second I’m ALWAYS with the s--ts but I’m not using MY MATERNITY shoot to be funny. Are you dumb??"

Cardi continued to defend herself against the accusations, emphasizing that the graffiti was not intended to be a slight against Minaj. "Btch my makeup artist touched up the picture because we didn’t have time for all that... if I wanted to be petty I would’ve posted a lot of memes last week," she added in a follow-up tweet.

Concluding her statement, Cardi expressed frustration with the ongoing speculation, warning users to stop spreading false narratives. "I KEEP TELLIN YALL TO LEAVE ME THE F--K ALONE !! If I’m saying I’m not on that time DONT MAKE ME GET ON THAT TIME. Unrist yourself!!" she declared.