Cardi B Says Karmelo Anthony’s 35-Year Sentence for Stabbing a Classmate Is “Excessive” and “A Race Thing” in Texas
Karmelo Anthony was 19 when a Texas jury convicted him of first-degree murder and sentenced him to 35 years for fatally stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a Frisco high school track meet in April 2025.
Cardi B broke down her objections in an 8-minute Twitter Spaces session. She argued self-defense, pointing out that Metcalf was larger, knew jiu-jitsu, and was there with his football teammates when the altercation happened.
She also questioned whether the case would have gone the same way with the races reversed. Anthony is Black, Metcalf was white, and critics have pointed to an allegedly all-white jury and bias in the Texas system.
The judge reportedly called Anthony a “nice young man” but upheld the jury’s decision. Anthony had no prior record.
Cardi B said she felt for both families, but she kept coming back to one technicality: the jury had the option of manslaughter and didn’t take it. Rep. Jasmine Crockett also weighed in sympathetically toward Anthony, while conservative commentators called the verdict straightforward justice for a deliberate stabbing.
