NEW YORK _ Rapper Cardi B stepped up to the mic in a Queens courtroom Tuesday _ to plead not guilty to felony fight charges.
The performer, whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar professed her innocence to charges that she was trying to beat a pair of bartending sisters named Jade and Baddie Gi at a strip club.
"How do you plead?" a judge asked Cardi, who just days ago won Best Female Hip Hop Artist of the Year at the BET Awards
"Not guilty sir, honor," Cardi said, leaning into the microphone.
She wore a navy blue pant suit with powder pink lapels and matching stiletto nails.
Cardi B. and alleged co-defendants Tawana Jackson-Morel and Jeffrey Bush were previously charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly throwing glass bottles at the bartenders inside the College Point strip club on Aug. 28.
The Grammy-winning rapper turned down a no jail plea bargain earlier this year, Prosecutors then brought the case to a grand jury, which upgraded the top charges against Cardi B and the others to felonies.
"The defendants in this case are accused of two premeditated attacks on two women working at a club in Queens last summer," said Acting Queens DA John Ryan. "The victims allegedly had glass bottles hurled at them, alcoholic drinks thrown in their faces and one woman's head was slammed into the bar. This kind of violence won't be tolerated in our community. The defendants will be held accountable for their alleged actions."
