Cardi B Hits Back at Mona Love: 'You Used Me as a Scapegoat' Over Colorism Clip, and Mona Says Sorry

"You decided to use me and a sensitive topic as a scapegoat. A topic I haven't talked about in years that you randomly brought up. And now I'm getting dragged for it." That was Cardi B on X Monday (Nov. 2), going straight at comedian Damona "Mona" Love after Mona suggested on The Joe Budden Podcast that Cardi's lighter skin is part of the reason she made it as far as she has, per Complex.

Mona, known for her Don't Call Me White Girl brand, was reacting to a 13-second clip from a 2024 Instagram Live. "Cardi is very talented, but part of the reasons why she's there is because she's light," she said on the show. "Colorism does take part in a lighter person making it further. It's a fact," according to theGrio. In a separate video, she argued that a darker-skinned woman with the same talent would not have gotten as far, Billboard reported.

"Cut down to 13 seconds"

Cardi's first issue was the clip itself. "If we going to talk about what I said, let's talk about everything that I said in the 15 minute live from 2024 that got cut down to 13 seconds," she wrote. "I know that colorism is real. I never denied that. I seen it for myself."

She pointed back to her stripping days, saying she watched men treat her differently from dark-skinned women, and said colorism shows up in the justice system too. But she drew a hard line on the main point. "What I'm always going to stand up for is that my skin tone is not solely the reason for my success."

Cardi said nobody saw a star when she started out. She said people clowned her teeth, her acne and her braids. "My skin tone wasn't enough to convince anyone I was a star. Everybody said no!!" she wrote. "What keeps you in the room is the work… the strategy… the consistency AND the talent."

Then the DMs came out

This is where it got personal. Cardi claimed Mona had been in her DMs for years asking about surgery, career moves and brand deals. "If my success is because of my light skin why you asking me how to pitch yourself and how to get brand deals??" she wrote, per Complex.

She went further and alleged that Mona only brought up the old clip to get the heat off herself after the backlash over her comments about Tia Kemp. "You used me as shield because you was under fire for the backlash you was getting for talking about Tia Kemp, another Black woman, all because she was selling more tickets than you!" Cardi wrote, according to AllHipHop. Mona did not directly address the DM claims in the coverage we reviewed.

Mona: "This was avoidable"

By Tuesday, Mona was backing down. She called into The Joe Budden Podcast and said she had already sent Cardi an apology in her DMs, according to HotNewHipHop. "I apologize," she said. "Her saying that I'm the cause of her being dragged right now, like that sh*t makes me feel horrible."

Joe Budden didn't let the show off the hook either. "I feel like we could have had the colorism conversation sans Cardi, right? That's a bigger conversation to be had," he said.

Mona admitted she didn't do her homework. "If I knew that that clip was edited ... even if it wasn't edited, if I knew it was that old, it would have been a total different response from me," she said. "I just got to tighten up like that, because this was avoidable."

As of Wednesday afternoon, we have not seen Cardi publicly respond to the apology. But she already said where she stands on the bigger debate: "We can acknowledge that reality without diminishing my accomplishments or my experience."

Watch the latest from Rich Motion: Lil Woody Starts WAR With Charleston White And Wack 100. Was Cardi right to air out the DMs, or should Mona's apology end it? Let us know in the comments, and subscribe at youtube.com/@RichMotion_Media so you don't miss the next one.

Sources: Complex, theGrio, Billboard, AllHipHop, HotNewHipHop