Wherever you are in the world, there’s no doubt that you’ve heard of America’s up-and-coming female rapper Cardi B (real name: Belcalis Almanzar).
The 25-year-old Bronx native is best known for her summer-hit “Bodak Yellow,” and her ongoing relationship with Migos’ Offset. With 259 million plays of Bodak Yellow on Spotify, there’s no doubt that Cardi’s name will continue to pop up in the entertainment business. People love her for her attitude and antics, but many overlook her consistent and problematic controversies. More recently, she’s been called out for her racist, transphobic comments and her responses are nothing less than interesting.
Offset came under fire two weeks ago for a homophobic lyric in which he says “I do not vibe with queers.” Sadly, a majority of the Black male community came to his defense and responded with “you get so easily offended nowadays” to those who had an issue with the line. Instead of trying to simmer down the situation, Cardi added more fuel to the fire when she truly revealed her ignorance and excused Offset for his actions. She not only justifies Offset’s lyric, but also pins the blame on LGBT+ members. This is her statement:
“Now, that’s a word that you guys say that it’s a bad word for gays – I never even heard that word in the first place – why don’t y’all educate people about it?… Why don’t we do things to educate instead of bashing and trying to label something that they not?”
Cardi believes it is our fault that Offset rapped a homophobic phrase. She claims we do not educate straight people enough on what it is we do or do not get offended by. Adding on to her ignorance of the LGBT+ Community, Cardi has admittedly used transphobic slurs in the past while also perpetuating rape culture.
https://twitter.com/lmCardiB/status/895559330925248512
“I’ma take him out, we gon get drunk… When he wake up he gonna be like ‘what the fuck?,’ because the bitch was a tr*nny. I’ma be like yup! Yup, we had a threesome with a tr*nny! Yup! Yup a tr*nny sucked your dick!”
When Cardi posted the heap-of-amess video defending Offset, she also replied to the transphobia accusations earlier in January 2018 with:
“When I said the word tr*nny, I did not know that that was a bad word. Cus’ trans people use it, and let’s not front like they don’t.”
I am definitely not saying Cardi B should be a feminist & pro-gay activist, but she should not try to mask her lack of knowledge with even more ignorance as a cherry on top. If she is not for the people, she should just keep her mind to herself. She needs to take responsibility for her actions, and grow from them as both a person and an influencer.
In another controversy, the focus shifted to racism within the black community, more towards other minority groups and darker-toned women. “Roach” is a derogatory term used to describe dark-skinned females as lesser than their lighter-toned counterparts. Colorism is a toxic force within Black culture, in which the lighter-toned women are considered beautiful and dark-skinned women are put down as “dirty” or “ugly.” Cardi B has a relatively light skin tone, so these next tweets are up for interpretation.
When Cardi was called out by a Twitter user, she had this to say:
Cardi also came under fire after calling Kim Jong Un, “Won Tung soup.” Not only is this offensive to the North Korean dictator, but she personally attacked the entire Asian community with her racist remark. To sweeten the deal, even more, Cardi used a dish from China to racially attack a man from North Korea–two nations separated by 2000 kilometers. A fan commented on her attack against KJU and the following proceeded:
I would be very embarrassed to say I look up to someone with so much going against them, especially Cardi B who thinks she can disrespect fans the way she has. As an artist, you have to take both negative and positive feedback and respond with respect. Even more so when it is on a public platform like a social media website. Screenshots never die sweetie.