‘Tiger King’s Carole Baskin Bashes Cardi B’s ‘WAP’ MV For Parading Big Cats
Video screenshot via Cardi B and IMDb
Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion released the music video for their single, WAP, last week. Besides a colorful cast and choreography, it features leopards and white tigers.
These animals were not on set, and were edited into the scenes. However, Carole Baskin, who grew popularity after Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness documentary, has voiced out against the use of big cats for entertainment purposes.
In a statement to Billboard, Baskin said that she was glad the felines were “Photoshopped in via green screen,” but noted that having them pose in front of the green screen “doesn’t happen in the wild.”
“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 said.
She also highlighted how the video seemed to glamorize the “idea of rich people having tigers as pets,” which might influence viewers into purchasing them as status symbols.
Baskin reminded that even “people like Joe Exotic, Bhagavan Antle, Marc McCarthy, Mario Tabraue, and others” have stated that big cats will grow old and end up becoming “a liability instead of an asset.”
She also expressed fears that cats given to people for bragging rights might end up being killed, left in sanctuaries, “or worst yet, [abandoned in] breeding mills.”
Baskin’s comments follow calls by thousands to have Kylie Jenner’s cameo in the same video replaced so more Black voices can be heard.
Watch the full music video below.
[via LADBible, cover image via Cardi B and IMDb]
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