Rick Ross is defending Cardi B amid the #SurvivingCardiB hashtag spawned from a three-year-old video of the Bronx native admitting to drugging and robbing men when she worked as a stripper.

Cardi attempted to address the backlash with a statement posted on social media earlier in the week. “All I can do now is be better for myself my family and my future,” she wrote.

The explanation didn’t exactly extinguish the fury. Rozay, who lost an endorsement deal several years ago for his lyrics on Rocko’s “U.O.E.N.O” remix, has been used an example of a double-standard between male and female entertainers in the era of the #MeToo movement. But the Maybach Music boss disagrees with the comparison, and doesn’t think that Cardi should be “persecuted” for being honest.

“In a lot of circumstances that’s what comes with that lifestyle. She never hid that, we all know that,” Ross  said in a series of Snapchat videos posted online Thursday (March 28).

“I took that on the chin and I have no love lost for Reebok. I needed to understand I was a king and they [were] right, I didn’t need to promote that.”

The 43-year-old rapper went on to explain what inspired his controversial lyrics. “The parties I attended at the time, where I’m from, that was the lifestyle. When we performed that record that was the most popular line to a lot of motherf**kers, and that’s who I wrote that for. I wrote that record speaking for the motherf**kers who were living that lifestyle,” he said.

“Me being a king, I did not need to promote that among my beautiful queens,” Ross added.

In closing, Ross reiterated that Cardi shouldn’t be punished. “We don’t need to persecute her for her past. We need to be leaders and lead by example.”

Watch the full video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jq4jmQUhiw&feature=youtu.be

—- VIBE