Cardi B and Megan thee Stallion’s new buzzy video “WAP” features tigers almost as big as the rappers’ personalities. And speaking of personalities, if big cats are around, you know that Carole Baskin is not far away. And she had a few words about the use of wild animals in the "WAP" video.
Baskin, best known as the sworn enemy of eccentric zookeeper Joe Exotic in Netflix's documentary Tiger King, is the founder and CEO of Big Cat Rescue, and a vocal proponent of animal rights. She recently told EW in a statement that though she is relieved that the tigers seem to be "photoshopped" in the rooms with the singers, but she alleges that probably indicates that the production team dealt with "big cat pimps" who aren't as humanitarian as she feels she is.
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"You have to pose a wildcat in front of a green screen to get that image and that doesn't happen in the wild," wrote Baskin. "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, probably even one of the ones shown in Tiger King, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, who make 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."
She also criticised the video for being an example of people exploiting tigers and illegally owning them as a status symbol, writing that it "glamorises the idea of rich people having tigers as pets." In the "WAP" video, Cardi B and Megan thee Stallion walk in on tigers mating; Cardi B, covered in leopard print, does the splits next to leopards; Megan Thee Stallion, dressed in a tiger print bodysuit with hair to match, dances near two white tigers.
"No matter how you cut it," Baskin continued, "it's always abusive to the cat and dangerous to the public."