Cardi B is back in court, and this time it’s for a tattoo. Cardi’s Tuesday court appearance resulted from a lawsuit against her for copyright infringement of a distinctive back tattoo. Cardi, whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar, is being sued by Kevin Michael “Mike” Brophy for using his back tattoo on the cover of her 2016 mixtape, Gangsta B***h Music, Vol. 1.

Brophy is suing the Grammy-winning artist for $5 million. As reported by Law and Crime, the 2017 lawsuit accuses Cardi and her companies, KSR Group, LLC and Washpoppin Inc., of misappropriating Brophy’s likeness. The trial is expected to last four days in Santa Ana, California, with U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney presiding.

The Bronx-born rapper’s mixtape cover is an image of a man with his face between the rapper’s legs. She is in the backseat of a vehicle drinking a beer. Although the man’s face is not shown, the imagery of the tattoo on his back is a focal point. According to Law and Crime, Brophy stated the tattoo appears to be his. It “includes the same tiger and serpent” that he has in his intricate piece.

On Twitter, Law and Crimes News senior reporter Meghan Cuniff shared images of the mixtape cover and Brophy’s tattoo while providing live coverage of the trail.

Cuniff tweeted the image with remarks from Judge Carney.

“But the judge emphasized the image here is really kinda tame. “This isn’t even adult pornography,” Carney said. From the complaint: “The cover of Gangsta Bitch is designed to attract consumers to the Cardi B edgy persona.”

Cuniff then shared an image of Brophy’s tattoo, for comparison.

Brody is a married father of two and a lifelong surfer. He feels the misuse of what he describes as his “Michelangelo piece” has been downgraded to “raunchy and disgusting.”

Law and Crime covered the court proceedings where Brophy explained “he worries his young son and daughter will eventually see the cover or that their friends will show it to them.”

“It looks like I’m giving oral sex to someone who’s not my wife, someone who’s not my partner. An image that I never, ever signed off on — ever,” Brophy testified.

Brophy also claimed to never have heard of the rapper in 2016, before the image was brought to his attention by his wife.

“This was a long journey to get this tattoo. It took a lot of commitment.” Brophy continued, “To see it in this light was a complete slap in the face and a complete disrespect to me and my family.”

ABC News reported that Brophy sent a cease and desist letter to the rapper and her legal team to remove the tattoo, but he never received a response.

“There’s a lot of things I would like to be spending time on. But the only way to get this removed was to come here to this courtroom,” stated Brophy. “To have to come to a court of law to get this taken down? It’s crazy.”

Cardi’s lead attorney, Peter Anderson, stated that Cardi “had nothing to do with the design of the mixtape cover.” Anderson presented to the jury that the imagery was a fictionalized representation. The image depicts “reversing the normal stereotypical roles of a woman being subservient to a man.”

The cover was completed in 2016 by New York graphic artist Tim Gooden for $50. Gooden testified that he googled “Black men with tattoos” and the image came up free for use. Anderson added that the small piece used from the free image was the distinctive tiger. The rest was altered by Gooden.

Anderson continued to argue that Brophy’s tattoo and the digitally altered version’s distinctive differences are a clear sign that the full image was not ripped from his back.

“That’s a Black man with hair and this is a white man with shaven head,” Anderson said. “That’s a Black man who has no neck tattoos, no head tattoo, but Mr. Brophy has head and neck tattoos.”

Anderson also shut down claims that the mixtape cover was the reason behind Cardi’s success and heightened popularity in 2016. At that time, she was a cast member on VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: New York and already had a massive following.

The trial will continue throughout the week.

Cardi bCopyright infringementLawsuitMixtapesuetattoo