When Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B’s music video for “WAP” dropped on August 7, social media exploded with praise and awe for it and all its twerk-filled, bar-crushing glory.
But with that delight also came a wave of intense side-eye at Kylie Jenner’s cameo. Cardi B, however, responded to the comments on Twitter on Sunday, defending her decision to include the reality star in the video.
The backlash to the Kardashian’s appearance was so fierce that a petition circulated to remove her from the video and amassed a whopping 50,000 signatures. The criticism was less about people’s general feeling towards the Kylie Cosmetics founder, and much more so about the fact that a white woman was given space in a high-profile music video that could’ve been given to a female musician of colour. The other women featured in “WAP” were emerging stars Normani and Rosalía (the Spanish artist is white and has been called out for similar reasons) and up-and-coming Black artists like Mulatto, Sukihana, and Rubi Rose.
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Cardi B, in tweets that have since been deleted, responded in particular to criticism that Normani, a woman of colour, has more talent than Jenner, but the latter artist's whiteness allowed her to get away with doing "the bare minimum." Cardi B wrote, "This is not about fuckin race. Why did I put Kylie on my music video? She treated my sister and daughter so lovely at her kid bday party."
#CardiB speaks out against comparisons between #Normani and #KylieJenner, explains why she invited Kylie to be in the #WAP video:
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) August 10, 2020
"This is not about f*ckin race. Why did I put Kylie on my music video? She treated my sister and daughter so lovely at her kid bday party." pic.twitter.com/VcXOMQ4r0x
“Normani is one of the best female artist that dances Like she dances her fuckin ass off!,” Cardi B tweeted. In the visual, Normani dances and does the splits, while Jenner's cameo has her simply strutting down a hallway and opening a door. “Why would [Normani] open a door? Please tell me how that would make sense? The best part of the song is the beat & hook it what makes you want to shake your ass.”
“Not everything is about race," she continued. "Theres issues out here in the world that it is about race that I preach all the time about. This is not about fuckin race.”
Cardi B's response makes it seem unlikely that she will act on the call to edit "WAP," but it's good to know that it seems that when it comes to the rapper, knidness goes a long way. And a well-executed 2-year-old's birthday party.