Rapper Cardi B has said that the conviction and sentencing of 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony for the murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a Texas track meet is “disgusting,” claiming it is “not justice.”

She wrote in the wake of the verdict and sentence being delivered, “Wow! Just freakin wow! DISGUSTING… This is not justice, this is trying to make an example!!!” 

Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, also reposted on X a number of posts in support of Anthony, including a post saying Anthony and another teen “deserved better,” and a post alleging that Anthony had “save someone life (sic)” four years ago.

The jury returned a guilty verdict on Tuesday after around 3 hours of deliberations and a trial that lasted just over a week. Anthony’s defense team had claimed that the then-17-year-old had acted in self-defense when he fatally stabbed Metcalf in the chest. Anthony had sat under the Memorial High School team’s tent at the track meet, the school to which Metcalf belonged, and refused to leave despite being asked repeatedly. 

One witness testified that Anthony told Metcalf, “If you want me to move, you’re going to have to move me,” while another said he heard Anthony say “touch me and see what happens” with a hand in his backpack. Witnesses said Metcalf had pushed or shoved Anthony before the stabbing. The same day, the jury returned a sentence of 35 years for Anthony. 

In closing arguments, the prosecution told the jurors: “This is one of those rare cases where every important fact can be boiled down to one sentence: You do not get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you provoke the shove.” He added, “Why didn’t [Anthony] just not walk away? You see had a choice to walk away and abandon the encounter.”

“You can meet deadly force with deadly force in Texas, but you can’t meet force, a shove, with deadly force, a stab,” he said. “Size differential, it doesn’t work in this case, you don’t get to kill someone just because they are bigger than you.”