The steamy music video for “Wild Side” has been on heavy rotation for Cardi B and Normani fans, but an article by Rolling Stone suggested that the pair of artists were “queer-baiting.” The publication mentioned other artists like Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande who have been accused of performing actions or using imagery that would entice LGBTQIA+ audiences, and because Normani and Cardi were getting close in their “Wild Side” visual, their names were added to the list.
“Most recently, Normani was criticized on Instagram by a user and accused of something similar, which was later shared across Twitter,” Rolling Stone reported. “In her recent video for her song ‘Wild Side,’ featuring Cardi B, the two are pictured naked and gyrating against one another.”
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After the outlet tweeted a link to their article, Cardi quickly clapped back. “Uuummmm @RollingStone queer baiting? You do know we was trying to hide a whole baby bump right ?” she wrote. “Also I’m married to a man but I have express soo much about my bisexuality and my experiences wit girls .All of a sudden ‘queer baiting’ is the new word & people use it to the ground !”
The rapper also expressed a dislike for the term because she claims it almost forces people to out themselves. “I don’t like this new ‘queer baiting’ word,” Cardi added. “I feel like it pressure artist to talk about their sexuality or their experiences that they don’t feel comfortable speaking about.If a artist kiss a girl on a video does that means she gotta show videos & text wit wit other women?”
Rolling Stone hasn’t responded to Cardi’s tweets, but you can check out the exchange below.