The Latest Person of High Moral Fiber to Be Offended by 'WAP': Carole Ballard. Because of Large Cats in the Video.
Like Cardi B's and Megan Thee Stallion's "WAP" or not - and I'm not going to try to fool anyone, my tastes run more toward Yacht Rock these days - one thing you have to give to them, they've generated nuclear reactors worth of buzz. Not only has there not been a single song the world has been talking about in a long, long time, when was the last time we had a full blown controversy on our hands? Politicians talking about it. Dramatic readings of the lyrics. You can't buy publicity like this. And anyone who lived through the days when they had actual hearings on Capitol Hill to discuss warning labels on CDs - and even John fucking Denver was dragged before the committee over "Rocky Mountain High" being accused of promoting drug use - has to applaud their ability to break through the general apathy about song lyrics in 2020 and create a piece of art that has people talking.
And the latest protector of our cultural mores is someone I'd completely put out of my mind once "Tiger King" sort of ran its course and we all stopped thinking about it.
Source - Tiger King's Carole Baskin is not happy with Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's use of wild cats in their "WAP" music video. ...
"My guess is that most people won't even see the photoshopped cats in the scenes because the rest of it is so sexually explicit," Baskin told Entertainment Weekly in a statement. "I was happy to see that it does appear to all be photoshopped. It didn't look like the cats were really in the rooms with the singers." ...
"That being said, you have to pose a wildcat in front of a green screen to get that image and that doesn't happen in the wild," Baskin, 59, told EW. "It can 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)."
OK. Got it. The problem isn't the lyrics or the video - I'm 90% sure reversed my vasectomy - it's that the production company used footage of big cats that they likely bought from someone that Carole Baskin can't be sure about but she believes it's possible whomever sold them the footage may have mistreated the cats. Why? Because you need a green screen to do that, and cats will eat the green screen and die. And they might keep the cats caged up. You know, like we saw her repeatedly in the series.
Got it. I'm glad she articulated that so well. Not as well as she might have cleared up the mystery surrounding the disappearance of her husband. And all that stuff about how you might dispose of a body in a park filled with large carnivores who are attracted to sardine oil. And the coincidental timing of his never being heard from again that benefited her. We could've used a little more elaborating out of Carole about that and a little less about a raunchtastic music video. But still, it's good to hear from her from time to time. If for no other reason than to remind us how famous she was for a few weeks back in the Spring. And how her moral line still has more twists and turns in it than a balloon animal. Now please go away again, Carole.