Cardi B. has slammed Carole Baskin for her "ridiculous" comments about the rapper’s new music video.
The ‘Tiger King’ star hit out this week over Cardi and Megan Thee Stallion’s promo for ‘WAP’ – which features the two stars dressed in animal print while leopards and white tigers roam freely – as she suggested it would "glamorise the idea of rich people having tigers as pets", despite the cats having been photoshopped in.
While Cardi initially wasn’t "gonna engage" with Carole over her comments, she suggested the animal activist had no right to pass judgement because of the mystery and unproven allegations surrounding the disappearance of her husband Don Lewis in 1997.
Cardi told i-D magazine: "Like, that’s just ridiculous, you know? Oh, Lord. Like, girl, you killed your goddamn husband."
The 27-year-old singer and her collaborator had been blasted by Carole for working with "big cat pimps" to make the video.
She said 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. It 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.
"The worst part is that it glamorises the idea of rich people having tigers as pets. That makes every ignorant follower want to imitate by doing the same.
"After tigers are too old for pay to play sessions by people like Joe Exotic, Bhagavan Antle, [Mark] McCarthy, Mario Tabraue and others, they become a liability instead of an asset.
"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."