Cardi B responds to Carole Baskin's criticisms over "WAP" video

Last weekend, Carole Baskin, who stars in Netflix's Tiger King documentary series, spoke to Billboard about her issues with Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's "WAP" video.

Baskin said, "My guess is that most people won't even see the Photoshopped cats in the scenes because the rest of it is so lurid. 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."

She continued, "That being said, you have to pose a wildcat in front of a green screen to get that image and that doesn't happen in the wild. It can’t happen in sanctuaries like ours where cats have plenty of room to avoid a green screen (or would shred it if offered access and could die from ingesting it). 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 added, "The worst part is that it glamourises the idea of rich people having tigers as pets. That makes every ignorant follower want to imitate by doing the same. 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. 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."

In a new interview with i-D published today (13 August), Cardi B has responded to Baskin's criticisms. She says, "I’m not gonna engage with Carole Baskin on that. Like, that’s just ridiculous you know? Oh, Lord. Like, girl you killed your goddamn husband."

Speaking about the controversey around the song and video, Cardi B adds, "It doesn’t make me angry. It makes me happy. They keep talking and the numbers keep going up. At the end of the day, whatever they’re saying, the numbers speak for themselves."

Back in April, Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage" song was reworked with Tiger King-inspired lyrics about Carole Baskin which went viral, "Carole Baskin / killed her husband, whacked him / Can't convince me that it didn't happen / Fed him to tigers they snackin' / What's happenin' / Carole Baskin."