CARDI BEAT
Rapper’s crew pounds fan after Met Gala
CARDI B’S entourage went berserk on an autograph seeker outside a five-star hotel early Tuesday after the star left the Met Gala, viciously pounding the man, officials said.
Giovanni Arnold approached the 25-year-old Bronx star, the rapper Offset and their respective crews at about 2 a.m. at the Mark Hotel on E. 77th St. near Madison Ave.
The two stars were returning to the hotel from Monday night’s celebrity-filled fashion exhibit events.
Police initially said members of Cardi B’s entourage thought Arnold was getting too close and gave him a thumping.
But a video posted to TMZ shows Arnold standing across the street from the rappers’ SUV, complaining that they had snubbed him.
“I just asked for an autograph, damn,” Arnold says in the video.
“Please beat me up, please brother. You better invest you money, bro, do something with your money instead of buying jewelry. You gonna go broke one day, you heard? It’s not going to last forever.”
Three men then jump out of an SUV containing Cardi B and Offset and charged across the street to attack Arnold, according to the video. They repeatedly punch him, knocking him to the ground, and then stomp on him before running back to their vehicle, which then speeds away.
Medics took Arnold to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell, where he was listed in stable condition.
Cops were looking to question the three men involved in the assault.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said the video “shows an individual having a loud, boisterous, I’ll call it, ‘conversation’ with the entourage allegedly (of) Cardi B.”
“At some point, three individuals run over and physically assault this individual,” Shea said. “(It’s) difficult to ascertain on the video, but what you see is essentially somebody punched. The individual goes down and then there’s a flurry — additional punches or kicks to that individual.”
Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar, is not seen on the video, said Shea, who expects to find the people responsible.
“I think it’s been proven over time we have a very long reach and a very long memory,” Shea said. “So I have the utmost confidence that if there was, in fact, a crime committed, which apparently there was, we will bring whoever’s responsible to justice.”
Attorney Daniel Szalkiewicz, who is representing Arnold in a likely lawsuit, called the attack an “unjustified ambush.”
“Our client was beaten to a pulp for requesting an autograph,” he said. “Our client was held in the hospital overnight for observation. The videos clearly show this was not an act of selfdefense. The assailants fled the scene to avoid being arrested for their savage attack. “No fan should ever be treated in this manner, and words never justify violence,” he said.
Cardi B tweeted about the incident late Tuesday, but then took down the missive.
“If you check my tag pics i take a lot of pics with fans,” the momto-be wrote. “Some people are not fans & sometimes i don’t want no pics and i simply don’t want people too close cause of (an emoji of a pregnant woman) i don’t know what are people’s intentions sooo i Be careful. Why can’t people respect that?”
Cardi’s debut single “Bodak Yellow” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Arnold sells autographs on his website, gtvreality.com, for about $100 a piece. He writes on the site that he has been collecting autographs since he was 12.
“His outgoing and funny personality has lead Gio to befriend many of the biggest names in Hollywood and the music industry, who are always excited to see and sign stacks of autographs especially for him,” his website says.