Former University of Tennessee Student Gets $250K Settlement Over Cardi B’s ‘WAP’ Lyrics

The lawsuit was filed after UT threatened to expel Kimberly Diei from school over a tweet she made containing the lyrics of Cardi B's 'WAP.'

Kimberly Diei, a former pharmacy student at the University of Tennessee, has secured a $250,000 settlement after a legal battle that began when the university attempted to expel her over a social media post featuring the lyrics of Cardi B’s “WAP.” The lawsuit reached its conclusion on Jan.. 29.

According to The New York Times, the settlement announcement was made by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a pro bono organization that has represented Diei in the lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed four years ago, claimed that UT violated her First Amendment rights.

UT’s Health Science Center College of Pharmacy launched two separate investigations into Diei in 2021, which resulted in her almost being expelled for her posts violating UT students’ “professionalism” standards.

The investigations began two days after Diei enrolled at UT. The college’s professional conduct committee investigated her posts after allegedly receiving an anonymous complaint about her content.

At the time, Diei made several posts on X, then known as Twitter. One of her tweets included lyrics to “WAP” by Cardi B, and the other was a selfie of herself captioned with lyrics from Beyoncé.

While the UT administration stated that the posts were in violation because they were overly “sexual” and “vulgar,” FIRE argued that Diei’s words were protected by the First Amendment—a sentiment that a federal appeals court shared on Wednesday.

With the representation of FIRE, Diei argued that while her posts were racy, they were also positive and unrelated to her identity as a pharmacy student at UT Tennessee.

Greg Greubel, a FIRE attorney who worked on the settlement case, said, “UT’s pharmacy school learned an important lesson today. There is nothing unprofessional about students expressing their love of hip-hop and their sexuality on social media. Kim has proven something FIRE has said for 25 years: The First Amendment robustly protects students’ rights to have a voice outside of school, even if college administrators don’t like what they have to say.”