Cardi B fumed after Karmelo Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the 2025 murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, calling the verdict “disgusting.” Anthony gained public support after he claimed he stabbed Metcalf in self-defense.
“Wow! Just freakin wow! DISGUSTING… This is not justice, this is trying to make an example!!!” Cardi wrote on X.
Cardi B has reposted other posts in support of Anthony, including one saying he “deserves better,” and another that read, “Almost 4 years ago Karmelo Anthony save someone life dont allow these trolls or mainstream media tell you otherwise. They are trying to do, character assassination against his image like the dominate society always do.”
Did Cardi B donate to Karmelo Anthony?
Many people defended Anthony after the incident, and a GiveSendGo was launched for him. Donations continued to pour in even after Anthony was sentenced. However, there are no reports to indicate that Cardi donated to Anthony.
The 33-year-old rapper took to Spaces on Wednesday, June 10, and said that she understood the grief of both families, stressing that while the Metcalfs “lost a child,” Anthony’s parents also “lost a child to the system.”
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“In this situation, it really is a race thing because I am pretty sure, I’m 100% sure, especially in Texas, this happens a lot in Texas—if Anthony was white and he was surrounded by a whole bunch of Black football players and two twins, the case would have went extremely different,” said.
She also questioned the circumstances of the confrontation, adding, “I highly doubt that Anthony went over there by himself to a tent full of strong ass football players [saying], ‘Yeah, I’m going to cause a ruckus because I have a knife on me.’”
Cardi further said, “Just because you have a knife and you against 14 boys that are strong, that tackle people for a living, that’s not going to make you feel tough cuz somebody’s going to knock that knife off your hand. I highly doubt that he went over there.”
Cardi even argued that Metcalf should have involved an adult and not escalated the situation himself.
“What do they tell us in school? If you have an issue with somebody: go to a teacher, go to an adult. If Austin had an issue with Anthony being in the tent, he should have went to the coach and told the coach, ‘Take him out of the tent,’” Cardi argued. “But Austin took [it] into his hands to get aggressive with Anthony.
She added, “Now in life, something that I have to learn, just because somebody provoke you … If you put your hands on them, it’s still wrong. It’s illegal to put your hands on somebody. He put his hands on somebody. Austin was twice his size. And not only that, but I also heard he knows how to fight jiu-jitsu. He was surrounded, he was protecting himself. “
Cardi then went on to criticize the jury’s speed in reaching a verdict, arguing that they should have considered manslaughter instead.
“They had the option of giving him manslaughter because clearly this wasn’t planned to be murder. They just probably feel like, ‘You know what? We hungry, we tired, I ain’t trying to come back tomorrow. Here’s what it is.’ No thought, no care, no nothing. No consideration, no seeing how this boy—he never went to jail, was a good kid, was active in school. 35 years I really feel like is excessive, extremely excessive,” she said.
Read More | Karmelo Anthony’s mom sobs before jurors sentence Austin Metcalf’s killer to 35 years, ‘He’s very sorry for what he did’
Cardi questioned how self-defense is applied in such cases and asked when it is actually recognized under the law.
“This is America,” Cardi said in her livestream. “I sure learned something from this. I learned to tell my sons: do not argue with no white boys, ‘cuz baby ain’t no law protecting you if something goes down with them … Just walk away.”
Karmelo Athony’s sentencing
Anthony, 19, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the 2025 murder of Metcalf. He was accused of stabbing Metcalf to death during a rain delay at a high school track meet. Before the stabbing, which took place at Memorial High School in Frisco, Metcalf had reportedly asked Anthony, who is black, to leave the event since he did not attend that school. Metcalf was white.
Anthony has now been transferred to a Texas prison to begin his sentence. He was transferred to the Wallace Pack Unit, near Houston, Texas, on Wednesday morning, June 10, after spending the previous night in county jail.
He filed a notice of appeal following his conviction, according to court records.
