Carole Baskin Megan Thee Stallion Cardi B
[Photos via Carole Baskin/Netflix, Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion/YouTube]

Carole Baskin criticizes Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” video

On Aug. 6, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion broke the internet with the release of their “WAP” video. Since its debut last week, however, the video has received criticism for various reasons. One of the video’s critics happens to be Tiger King star Carole Baskin.

This week, Baskin released a statement calling out the video’s “abusive” animal scenes.

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The “WAP” video has been at the center of controversy since its release last week. More recently, Baskin is speaking out against the video’s scenes that include wild cats. In a statement written to Billboard, the Big Cat Rescue CEO says that the video “glamorizes” the idea of having exotic animals as pets.

”My guess is that most people won’t even see the Photoshopped cats in the scenes because the rest of it is so lurid,” she says. “I was happy to see that it does appear to all be Photoshopped. It didn’t look like the cats were really in the rooms with the singers. In fact, probably most of the rooms were Photoshopped in via green screen.”

Even though Baskin wasn’t present on the video shoot, she says that the scenes featuring these cats could not have been captured organically. This means that “big cat pimps” were likely used for the video shoot.

“You have to pose a wildcat in front of a green screen to get that image and that doesn’t happen in the wild,” she says. “That tells me they probably dealt with one of the big cat pimps, who makes a living from beating, shocking and starving cats to make them stand on cue in front of a green screen in a studio. That’s never good for the cat.”

Baskin also takes the opportunity to mention her nemesis Joe Exotic. She further shares that the “WAP” video is helping to “glamorize” owning exotic animals as pets.

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“After tigers are too old for pay to play sessions by people like Joe Exotic, Bhagavan Antle, Marc McCarthy, Mario Tabraue and others, they become a liability instead of an asset,” she says. “While I think most are destroyed behind closed gates at that point, some end up being given away to people who want to have a tiger to show off. That never works out and the cats either die or end up dumped in sanctuaries or, worse yet, breeding mills. Either way, it’s always abusive to the cat.”

Another big problem fans have with the “WAP” video is the cameo from Kylie Jenner. The video features various cameos including Normani, Rosalia, Sukihana, Mulatto and Rubi Rose. However, Jenner’s particular appearance has angered some viewers.

One big critique of Jenner’s cameo is that she is the only non-musician to appear in the video. As well, some fans made a comparison between Jenner and Normani’s appearances in the video.

“Normani did ALL this and Kylie walked down the hall and opened a door,” @RhapsoDani tweets. “If that’s not a perfect visual indication of Black women having to do the most and white women do the bare minimum to get somewhere, I don’t know what is.”

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Cardi B quickly came to Normani and Jenner’s defense. In a series of now-deleted tweets, the rapper explains why Jenner was featured in the “WAP” video.

“Why did I put Kylie on my music video? She treated my sister and daughter so lovely at her kid bday party,” Cardi B tweets.

Cardi B further shares that Travis Scott and Offset are also close friends and that she is close with Kylie’s mom Kris Jenner.

Shortly following the video’s release, a petition to remove Jenner from the “WAP” video launched. So far, it has earned over 65,000 signatures.

Along with this, Cardi B has also praised Nicki Minaj and other female rappers for “dominating” the music industry. Although she doesn’t address Minaj by name, she praises “one female rapper” for dominating the industry for “a very long time” during an Apple Music interview.

“When I was younger, when I was eight… No wait, I’m lying. When I was six, seven, eight, there was a lot different female rappers,” she says. “And then there was a time that there was no female rappers at all. I have to keep replaying songs from the early 2000s. I have to keep replaying it, replaying it, replaying it because for a while there wasn’t no female rapper. Then there was one female rapper that dominated for a very long time. And she did pretty good. She’s been still dominating.”

The “WAP” video is available to stream below.

What are your thoughts on the “WAP” video? Do you agree with Carole Baskin’s comments? Let us know in the comments below.