Cardi B Just Responded To The Backlash Over Kylie Jenner's Appearance In The "WAP" Music Video

"Normani is one of the best female artist that dances ... Why would she open a door?"

On Friday, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion released their brand new collab single "WAP", alongside a music video featuring cameos from celebs like Normani and Kylie Jenner.

Atlantic Records / youtube.com

It's safe to say the song caused a stir online, and the music video racked up more than 50 million views in its first weekend — but not everyone was happy with it.

NBC / giphy.com

In fact, Kylie's appearance in the video received a pretty strong negative reaction from viewers criticising the inclusion of a white woman who has repeatedly been accused of appropriating Black culture for her own gain.

Instagram: @kyliejenner

"The betrayal of Kylie Jenner popping up in that video," one person wrote on Twitter. "It felt like a betrayal, I thought we were in a Black space."

Another Twitter user questioned why Cardi and Megan had chosen to ignore Kylie's past problematic behaviour, writing: "I want to read a think piece on Black celebrity women accepting known cultural appropriators and the reasoning of why this happens and implications of this behaviour. While I adore Cardi and Meg, why do they ignore this about Kylie??"

One fan even set up a Change.org petition to have Kylie's cameo removed from the video entirely. The petition has since been signed more than 64,000 times.

Change / change.org

However, some people did push back against the criticism, arguing that Kylie's appearance in the video would result in more people watching it and therefore a bigger hit for Cardi and Megan.

Atlantic Records / change.org

It seemed like Cardi agreed with that argument, liking a tweet that read: "Kylie in the #WAP video equals people moaning about Kylie in the video, which equals people tweeting about Kylie in the video, which equals people who haven’t seen the video going to watch the video to find out why Kylie’s in the video. Cardi’s getting those hits."

Now Cardi has jumped into the debate herself, defending the decision to have Kylie appear in the video in a series of now-deleted tweets.

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

Cardi's tweets came in response to writer Danielle Young, who tweeted on Friday pointing out the discrepancy between Normani's appearance in the video and Kylie's.

Danielle Young @RhapsoDani

Normani did ALL this and Kylie walked down the hall and opened a door. If that’s not a perfect visual indication of Black women having to do the most and white women do the bare minimum to get somewhere, I don’t know what is. https://t.co/ZGvbfzQeLs

01:40 PM - 07 Aug 2020

"Normani is one of the best female artist that dances," Cardi wrote in response. "Like she dances her fuckin ass off! Why would she open a door? Please tell me how that would make sense?"

Twitter: @iamcardib

She went on: "Not everything is about race. There's issues out here in the world that it is about race that I preach all the time about. This is not about fuckin race."

In a third tweet, Cardi explained that she included Kylie in the music video after Kylie treated her sister and daughter well at Stormi's birthday party, adding that her husband Offset is close with Kylie's baby daddy, Travis Scott.

instagram.com

While those tweets have since been deleted, Cardi did also reply to one user who said Kylie and Normani both showcased their own talents in the video, adding one simple word: "Exactly."

iamcardib @iamcardib

Exactly https://t.co/JOVgZdTJus

11:59 PM - 09 Aug 2020

I guess Cardi has spoken.

Quality Control Music / giphy.com