Cardi B‘s ‘WAP,’ presumably the first official single from her highly anticipated, yet-titled sophomore album, has been getting praise aplenty from fellow celebrities and fans alike since its August 7th premiere. Yet, there’s one person the GRAMMY winner shouldn’t expect a standing ovation from: CEO of Big Cat Rescue Carole Baskin.
The ‘Tiger King’ star was royally disappointed by the presentation of tigers, leopards, and jaguars in the Colin Tilley-directed video – even though they all appeared digitally.
Look inside to see why the big cat activist is actively giving the Megan Thee Stallion-assisted joint two thumbs down:
Taking to Billboard, Baskin revealed she appreciated Cardi and Meg opting not to use live animals in the shoot. However, she reckoned real big cats were still harmed in some fashion.
“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 told the outlet. “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.”
What’s worse, according to Carole, the clip “glamorizes the idea of rich people having tigers as pets” which “makes every ignorant follower want to imitate by doing the same.”
Concluding her criticism of the duo fetishizing felines, she said:
“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,” Baskin added. “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.” [source]