A microphone hurled by Cardi B at an audience member in Las Vegas has been sold for almost $100,000 on eBay.
Clips showing the rapper throwing a mic – also shared by the star herself – went viral on social media at the end of July.
The incident took place after a woman appeared to splash a drink on Cardi B, real name Belcalis Almanzar, as she performed her hit Bodak Yellow on stage at Drai’s Beachclub in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Police confirmed the incident was reported as battery the following day, but later dropped their criminal investigation and said no charges would be filed after a “thorough review” of the case.
Now, the mic has been sold on auction site eBay.
It was initially put on sale by Scott Fisher, owner of The Wave Inc, a Las Vegas-based audio production company that provided sound equipment to the beach club on the day of the incident.
He said he managed to retrieve the mic and decided to auction it on eBay, promising proceeds would be split between two charities – Friendship Circle Las Vegas, for teens and young adults with special needs, and the Wounded Warrior Project, for injured veterans.
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In the original eBay listing, he wrote: “We provided more than one microphone for this particular show and verified with the in house crew which one was specifically used by Cardi for the show.
“It was pretty easy to identify though as her mic was marked ‘main’. This is the mic that has been seen all over the country flying into the crowd after Cardi was splashed with some liquid. The mic still works as I tested it when it came back to the audio shop.”
‘A piece of hip hop infamy’
In a later post, he urged bidders to take the sale seriously. “This very well may fall upon deaf ears but to any bidders: This is a serious auction and the money is going to a good cause. If you don’t plan on actually paying for the item please don’t bid.
“If you want a piece of hip hop infamy and what has now become national and world news then please bid whatever you are willing to spend.”
The item has now sold for $99,900 (about £78,400) after receiving more than 120 bids.
“I was hoping it would hit $5,000 but again I had no idea,” Fisher told US news outlet CBS News. “I figured it would gain some attention nationally but the amount of news coverage has been staggering.”