Carole Baskin Slams Cardi B and Megan The Stallion’s ‘Lurid’ ‘WAP’ Video
Some people may be busy petitioning to have Kylie Jenner's cameo removed from the "WAP" video, but Carole Baskin isn't a fan of the video at all... and it's not because she wasn't asked to strut her stuff in the sultry, animal print-laden clip.
The controversial Tiger King star condemned Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's new music video, calling it "lurid" and claiming that the clip "glamorizes the idea of rich people having tigers as pets."
Speaking to Billboard, Baskin shared that while she's happy it appears that the rappers didn't film personally alongside live big cats, she's disappointed that green screen footage of exotic cats was used at all.
"I was happy to see that it does appear to all be Photoshopped," she said in a statement to the publication. "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. That being said, you have to pose a wild cat in front of a green screen to get that image and that doesn't happen in the wild."
Baskin argued that filming "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," she continued, name dropping breeders such as Joe Exotic, Bhagavan Antle, Marc McCarthy and Mario Tabraue.
The Big Cat Rescue owner added that music videos which include luxurious images of exotic animals in domestic settings may promote imitation from "ignorant followers."
"After tigers are too old for pay to play sessions by people like and others, they become a liability instead of an asset," she explained. "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."