Cardi B reacts to Karmelo Anthony’s 35-year murder conviction, calling it “disgusting” and linking it to the Cyrus Carmack-Belton case.
Cardi B didn’t hold back after a Texas jury handed down a guilty murder verdict and 35-year sentence against Karmelo Anthony on Tuesday, calling the outcome “disgusting” in a pair of posts that quickly spread across social media.
“Wow! Just freakin wow! DISGUSTING,” she wrote, adding, “This is not justice, this is trying to make an example!!!”
Wow! Just freakin wow! DISGUSTING… This is not justice, this is trying to make an example!!!
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) June 10, 2026
The Bronx rapper followed that up with a second post reading: “They both deserve better,” pairing images of Anthony alongside 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton, the South Carolina teen whose death last week produced its own wave of outrage.
The Anthony case dates back to April 2, 2025, when Austin Metcalf, a 17-year-old from Frisco Memorial High School in Texas, was fatally stabbed by Anthony during a regional high school track meet.
The confrontation started when Metcalf asked Anthony to leave a tent belonging to his school’s team, and witnesses said the two exchanged heated words before Anthony pulled a knife and stabbed Metcalf in the chest.
Anthony’s legal team argued self-defense the entire way, but per ABC News, prosecutors called it unprovoked murder and the jury agreed, convicting Anthony and sentencing him to 35 years.
The Carmack-Belton case unfolded differently but left the same bitter taste for many.
A South Carolina jury found former Shell gas station owner Rick Chow not guilty in the 2023 fatal shooting of 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton, after Chow and his son chased the teenager more than 130 yards, falsely accusing him of stealing a water bottle, and shot him in the back.
Chow’s defense successfully argued that Carmack-Belton had reached for a weapon of his own, and the jury accepted it.
Civil rights leaders immediately raised questions about race, with Rev. Nelson B. Rivers of the National Action Network asking publicly whether Carmack-Belton’s life mattered less because of the color of his skin.
Both cases became lightning rods because people are viewing them through the lens of their own experiences and identities, with criminologists noting that the reaction on social media reflects deep-seated views about race, self-defense, and trust in the American justice system.
The optics of a Black teen convicted of murder after a shoving match, set against a store owner acquitted after chasing and shooting a Black child in the back, made the contrast impossible to ignore for millions watching both trials unfold at the same time.
Cardi has consistently used her platform to speak on racial justice, and her reaction drew sharply divided responses online.
Some backed her fully, writing, “If you think Karmelo Anthony is guilty but think Kyle Rittenhouse is innocent, you’ve got some soul searching to do.”
Others pushed back hard: “Yeah a dude brought a knife to a fist fight… and you say it’s not justice?”
A third faction framed the jury’s makeup as the real story, with one user writing, “All white jury, justice for Karmelo Anthony!!! Only a certain group of people is egging this on.”
Anthony will be eligible for parole after serving half of his 35-year sentence.
Related
