Cardi B and Meg Thee Stallion performed WAP on the Grammys last week. Of course us grown folks expected the performance to be as raunchy as the lyrics and Meg and Cardi did not disappoint. There was plenty of floor grinding and cheek clapping to last me a lifetime. Even though I enjoyed the performance, many on the right were not amused by the sexually explicit performance. Despite having the option to turn off the TV or switch the channel (it was a prime time performance), some conservatives, namely Candace Owens, decided instead to come for Cardi B on social media. Our girl Cardi was not having it. Cardi clapped back by saying that it is parents’ jobs to monitor what their children watch. Below is more on the online beef via Page Six:
Their popping presentation featured two big hits: Cardi’s “Up,” and 26-year-old Megan’s two time Grammy-winning track, “Savage,” featuring Beyoncé. But it was the transition into their X-rated hit song of last year, “WAP,” that had conservative parents and pundits alike clutching their pearls.
Among them was Fox News soapboxer Candace Owens, who decried Cardi during an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show the following Monday, where she called the raunchy routine “an attack on American values, American traditions.”
Owens, 31, also accused the women of “actively trying to make children aspire to things that are grotesque.”
Not one to let critics get the last word, Cardi addressed Owens’ remarks on social media, even thanking the right-wing crusader for amplifying her music.
“Yaaaayyyyyyy WE MADE FOX NEWS GUYS !!! Wap wap wap,” Cardi wrote in a now-deleted tweet, according to Baller Alert.
“Matter fact I’m just going to thank Candy (Owens) She put my performance on Fox News giving it more views that boosted the views on YouTube and is counting towards my streams and sales,” she added.
During the segment, Owens went on to call the performance a harbinger of society’s downfall.
“It’s terrifying. I think parents should be terrified that this is the direction our society is heading towards,” Owens asserted. “We are weakening America . . . We are about to see the end of an empire. America cannot survive — it cannot be sustained — with these sorts of values.”
In direct response, Cardi pointed to another conservative role model. “I don’t know why Candy is so bothered by WAP. I was just inspired by our former First Lady,” Cardi joked, in reference to Melania Trump’s infamous girl-on-girl shoot for Max magazine in 1997.
“STREAM UP AND WAP .REMEMBER GROWN PARENTS ONLY YOU CAN MONITOR WHAT YOUR KIDS WATCH NO1 ELSE,” Cardi urged.
I personally enjoyed this public beef because Cardi B is the queen of clap back and pettiness. Cardi posting old naked photos of the conservatives’ Aryan princess (Melania Trump) in her response to their faux pearl clutching was the icing on the cake. At the same time, I wish Cardi had not responded to Candace because Candace is a clout chasing troll. Candace did not deserve to have her profile elevated by Cardi’s clapback. I loved how Cardi basically told the naysayers that it is not her job to empower their children with her music. It’s the parents’ job. It is also the parents’ job to monitor what their children watch and listen to. At this point everyone knows that Grammy performances are gonna be racy just like the half-time show so they should watch their kids accordingly. It is also time that we stop policing women’s bodies. Like let that 18th century thinking go.
When I was a kid my mom let me watch everything including Purple Rain and Nightmare on Elm Street starting at the age of nine. But you know what she did? She always talked to me after the movies to help me process what I saw. Cardi even said that she doesn’t allow her two year old to listen to her music because her music is for adults. I don’t understand these parents who let the TV or Spotify babysit their children without context, then get mad about what is on it. I need Candace to take several seats (she’s threatening to sue Cardi) and stop being the mouthpiece of white supremacy. In the meantime, Meg and Cardi can continue slaying their WAP performances on every award show this year.
I wish CardiB hadn’t responded at all because Candace Owen is launching a new show with Ben Shapiro, the guy who revealed in his attacks on WAP that he has never aroused his own wife, with whom he has 3 kids. This is all just free publicity for the show.
Also, I find it hilarious that people who are so offended by that performance are posting it all over Facebook and Twitter. I didn’t watch the Grammy’s but I have now seen that performance dozens of times thanks to people who are so outraged about it posting it everywhere.
And someone needs to explain to Candace that vaginas don’t pop into other vaginas
Thank you! I was watching this on Twitter and was quite befuddled about that pop thing. Sounds like someone gave us too much info about their fantasies.
Shapiro also, inadvertently, confirmed that he’d had paternity testing done on his children when he was responding to people giving him grief over his inability to please his doctor-wife
@Pottymouth Pup – Boy, Shapiro sounds like SUCH a catch. Can’t please his wife in bed and has to have paternity tests done when he finds out they’re expecting. 😂
I read that fox entertainment was showing the video constantly while complaining about it. What a bunch of repressed old bitties.
Yes, and all my ultra conservative family members and high school classmates have been posting it incessantly on Facebook to express how disgusting they find it.
Candace Owens feels the performance was a “harbinger of society’s downfall” yet had no problem voting for as well as supporting a man who openly bragged about sexual assault.
Exactly. Trump and Kavanaugh. The hypocrisy is blinding.
yeah, that “grab them by the p*ssy” is just locker room talk, right? *EYE ROLL*
plus, didn’t we hear the same from Tipper Gore back in the 80s? and from the White Right in the 50s regarding the evils of rock and roll? OMG my pearls much be clutched because PROFANITY! the downfall of society? go pound sand, Candy.
ETA: the diff, of course, is that in one case it’s women and body autonomy and in the other it’s a man talking about or “taking ownership” of a woman’s body. one is apparently OK with the GQP and one isn’t.
I’m pretty sure that performance came on after 10 pm. Little kids should have been in bed by then. If a parent is letting their kids stay up late and watching grown up TV, that’s on them.
Yeah, I was thinking that also.
100% agree. It takes a second to stand up and flip the channel
My mom was a big slasher movie fan so I grew up watching Jason, Freddie, Michael etc… hacking at teens. I was terrified to go in the basement myself and still occasionally look in the closet before bed but in all I’m unscathed. And my mom always watched with me and let me know from the get go that it was fake and we could turn it off at any time if I wanted. I loved the Cardi / Megan performance. I honestly wish I could twerk like that, it’s an amazing skill.
Candance Owens is a jackass lol. She always has been. “Vagina inside another woman’s vagina” just sealed the deal on that. She’s literally there just to make money being the token minority supporter on the right.
Frankly, this new wave of conservatism, I’m 100% behind Cardi B on. It’s definitely got its roots in the fascist movement building in the country, but a hefty percentage of it is being fueled by extremely lazy parents, IMO. You can really see it rolling out on the web with the way porn and sex work websites are starting to get legal attacks, despite the fact that few of them have created problems outside their venue. Lots of websites are starting to put in filters where they didn’t have it before or just outright ban adult material from platforms. It alarms me because that kind of marginalizing and censorship are usually signs of bigger issues coming down the line – purity culture is almost always a gateway into extreme conservatism because it feeds on fear – but frankly from the more practical standpoint that I don’t have patience with the Internet being built around children. Adults are the ones paying for subscriptions to most websites and for most internet services. I expect that to be reflected in the design as to whom its catered.
Candace Owen’s response was so bizarre because she was shading herself, and giving her haters ammunition. Concerning the song, I’m more upset it was performed at the Grammy’s because despite the it’s-best-to-listen-to-this-when-drunk-and-trying-to-get-hype vibe it’s a trash song. Lyrically it’s a hot mess in epic proportions. I can’t listen to Megan Thee Stallion or Cardi B for long before I have to put on some OG rapptress like Lil Kim. Lil Kim knew how to do raunchy but with lyrical flow and mastery. Parents should be clutching their pearls with the struggle rhyme scheme Megan (who I do think is talented to some measure) unfortunately garbles out.
As a parent, Cardi is 100% right. I raise and guide my child. Entertainers are going to do what they do. It’s up to me to provide my child with the context, moral compass, and lessons to help them process the world around them. If you don’t like the racy nature of secular music, why are you listening to it, consuming it, and engaging in it? There are non-secular music and entertainment you can enjoy. Now, this is censorship, not that trash they try to come for. The second WAP was announced as coming on they could have changed the channel.
Lastly, if Candance Owen has an issue with WAP then she should call up Gretchen-Wildly-Inappriropate-But-Fun-Country-Music-Singer-Wilison or any interation of it. Miss me with this.
This song is not my taste and you won’t see me dancing and singing along to it this summer on the beach. But I don’t even go to the beach. I’m boring let’s be honest. Still I do LOVE my music. But this one isn’t for me, so what.
AND…Cardi nailed it. I’m not living in some rated G world because kids. Give me a break okay? Watch your kids. I couldn’t watch anything like this when I was a kid my parents would have freaked. She says she doesn’t let her own kids watch it. I’m sorry Mommy Bloggers but the whole world doesn’t revolve around kids and some things are for adults. God knows we earned some adult entertainment with the hell we’ve been through.
Any parent concerned about musical performances with sexual context should do a better job keeping the TV or radio off when a song literally called ‘Wet A** Pu***y’ comes on. This whole thing is so absurd. It’s the Grammys, it’s two female rappers. It’s wasn’t a surprised performance at your Baptist Sunday School.
This is where I come down too. This performance was announced in advance I believe, and parents can just turn the TV off. It’s not that hard.
Conservatives, let people enjoy sex. Protect sex workers. Stop treating pleasure like it’s shameful. I’m so glad the younger generations are moving away from this crap because these “boundaries” are so useless.
Cardi’s performance was okay, but a bit on the nose with the bed thing.
Meghan’s solo performance was great! She can really follow choreo, and is an entertainer.
Well if the conservatives let people enjoy sex, then it won’t be fun for the conservatives because they really enjoy doing “illicit” things. And then enjoy using their moral high ground to condemn the very people they are using.
There are a lot of lazy parents out there who let the TVs babysit their kids as if they have no responsibility for monitoring what kids are watching. In my community these are the same parents pressuring school boards to open schools because they can’t be bothered educating and entertaining their own kids. I am not talking about working parents with very few options, I am talking about those stay at home moms who can’t do whatever it is they do when the kids are in schools. And this is before the latest CDC guidelines. I am sorry, but a parents should be the first teacher and monitor of their own kids. If not, don’t have any. Candice Owens is a See You Next Tuesday who wonders into anything to increase her own relevancy.
Even though I’ve lived on this continent for several decades, it still surprises me how puritanical we really are. There was literally no censorship of any kind when I was growing up in Europe. And of course it’s the parents’ job to monitor their kids. Cardi has an audience, and her audience aren’t children. I can’t believe we are still talking about this. Why should I not get to enjoy their performance because a bunch of conservatives want to police everything? Watch something else, dudes. Don’t even get me started on people saying “we are banning Dr. Seuss but not this?” That’s right, racism is worse than a couple of empowered women showing their body and dancing provocatively.
I saw Rocky Horror Picture Show when I was 7 and I turned out just fine. Granted, it was a bit of a misunderstanding that got me to that movie in the first place – my mom misunderstood that it was a children’s movie – but I wanted to stay and found the whole thing hilarious. If I had questions my mom would have answered them.
Eminem once made the same point that Cardi B has made, and they are both right. If you are the parent, then BE a parent. It’s not Cardi’s job to monitor their screens or Eminem’s job to monitor their earbuds.
And here we are, taking solid parenting advice from Eminem and Cardi B.
If we are ever watching something that I think is inappropriate for my boys, I just….turn it off. Change the channel. send them out of the room on a fake errand. Something. It’s really not that hard.
You know Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke are confused right about now.
I am loving her fashion – every one of those looks is on point.
A few days ago, a white man felt morally compelled to gun down 8 innocent people because he decided his sex addiction was their fault (also he was a fucking racist), but yeah – a song like WAP is THE harbinger of doom for the morals of this country.
Jaysus.
“But you know what she did? She always talked to me after the movies to help me process what I saw. Cardi even said that she doesn’t allow her two year old to listen to her music because her music is for adults.”
Came here to say this. I’m a 90s kid, I grew up when Britney and Christina were running around in the tiniest outfits imaginable singing stuff like “I’m A Slave 4 U.” My mom limited my exposure to risqué performances (I didn’t start watching the VMAs or Grammys until I was probably 11 or 12), and even though I was allowed to listen to the music, she helped me understand it and why some of it was more grown up/why it wasn’t appropriate for me to dress like that, etc.
I know things are different with kids getting phones and internet access way younger than I did, but that just means parents should take even MORE responsibility for what their kids consume. There are parental blockers on televisions, and I’m sure on phones too. Don’t blame artists for making the art they want to create; parent your kids! And maybe give them an earlier bedtime if they were up until midnight on Sunday watching the Grammys…
I don’t know what much about Cardi B’s music, i’m old and it is not my bag. But i just love her. I love how she does not back down, does not take crap from people, and this- i am not here to raise your kids- is a thing that famous people have been saying since i was a kid- it was Charles Barkley back then saying it the loudest.
I think she is great.
I will never understand why it is news to people that they can parent their own kids, and entertainers need only follow the regulations of their industry. Expecting Cardi B to make judgments about what is appropriate for your kids is basically asking society to raise your kids. Nah, you do that.
I’ve always loved Cardi B because she reminds me of my students…those scrappy girls who really faced a lot of hurdles when it came to just being alright in life. They knew it, and they still just wouldn’t take anything from anyone. I love that attitude.
Candace needs to get her priorities straight. Grinding on a stage has never brought America down. But murder, genocide, war, insurrection, racism, misogyny, bigotry, hatred, et al actually do leave a country in taters.
Perfect retort.
Truth. I have an uber-performative-Christian acquaintance who could not let go of her anger over J. Lo and Shakira’s Super Bowl performance last year. She was on it for weeks. Everyone was like…so why didn’t you change the channel if you thought it was inappropriate for your kids? My mom was cool and let us watch MTV when we were little but if a video came on that she didn’t think was appropriate for us…guess what. She’d change the channel. Were there times she wasn’t in the room and my siblings and I would continue watching whatever came on? Yes. Guess what? We turned out fine.
Also, Cardi and Megan’s performance was on after 10pm. It’s not like it was the opening number at 8pm. Isn’t that past the little ones bedtimes?
The rage over sexiness isn’t about protecting kids. Conservatives are never actually about protecting kids. These are the same folks who refuse to do anything when kids are massacred by guns in their own classrooms. It’s their own self-hatred for entertaining the thought that sex is not a bad but an enjoyable and good thing.
I didn’t see your post before I posted mine below regarding last year’s Super Bowl performance.
I’m a credentialed teacher but I work as a private tutor, and I was horrified when a nine year old student of mine, a girl, started singing the WAP song and doing the dance. It isn’t appropriate developmentally for a child that young to be exposed to such explicit content. A lot of people who don’t study early childhood development don’t understand that no, you can’t show explicitly sexual or violent content to a child, it’s not ok for them developmentally because their brain is literally not able to process the information in the same way and they are not as well able to distinguish movies/TV from reality. They may seem like they are, but they are not. Children are not just little adults, they have different brains and they experience the world very differently than we do. Early exposure to sexually explicit content in young boys (before age 12) is also shown to have an affect later in life, making them more likely to espouse traditional gender roles and condone violence against women as they become adults. But most parents don’t study early childhood development, so they don’t know what is and is not developmentally appropriate at what ages or what this content might be doing to their children.
But it IS on the parents, and Cardi has every right to defend herself. It’s not her fault if parents don’t shield their children from content that is developmentally inappropriate. I think people on the right just hate her because she is so successful and because she represents everything that threatens their hold on power.
This reminds me of the Shakira and Jennifer Lopez Super Bowl halftime show last year and them clutching their pearls and having fits over that. Um, you could research the artists you know and not be so lazy if you aren’t familiar with them. And pretty much everyone on the planet knew that JLo had just done that stripper movie and was hoping for award nominations, so, yeah, there was probably going to a stripper pole somewhere. And JLo also had just finished a Vegas residency, so they could have researched that also.
I don’t know what my neighbor’s young kids are watching, but they are always dancing in the yard and doing a lot of very adult dancing involving lots of bumping and grinding.
Also playing zombie, so they are letting them watch The Walking Dead. I love The WD, but it scares the hell out of me sometimes and has very adult themes and is too intense for young children. We’re talking lower grade school and younger.
I am a serious Cardi B fan…I find her message empowering, her personality refreshing and humor engaging. But I don’t allow my 6yo to listen to her… because I am a responsible adult who doesn’t depend on tv to influence her behavior.
It’s too bad Candace’s mom wasn’t more responsible…then maybe she wouldn’t be sucha a hateful cow.
I don’t listen to Cardi B because that is not my type of music but to each their own. However, she is right. Parents can monitor what their kids see on tv. PARENTS HAVE TO LEARN TO PARENT!
Love Cardi! I saw video when she is on laptop rapping f one of her songs and as soon as her daughter walked in she changed words of song.
I love her.