MUMBAI: Cardi B is sticking up for artists that have been accused of queerbaiting.
On July 23, Rolling Stone published an article about how musicians including Billie Eilish, Nick Jonas and Ariana Grande have been accused of queerbaiting, which activist Leo Herrera described to the outlet as when “a celebrity or a public figure capitalizes on the suspicion that they may be romantically involved with another same-sex person for the sake of publicity, promotion or a capitalistic gain.”
The article also mentioned Cardi B’s recent collaboration with Normani, writing, “Most recently, Normani was criticized on Instagram by a user and accused of something similar, which was later shared across Twitter. 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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However, Cardi was quick to call out any haters, arguing that she isn’t queerbaiting because she’s a proud bisexual.
She tweeted, “Uuummmm @RollingStone queer baiting? You do know we was trying to hide a whole baby bump right ?Also I’m married to a man but I have express soo much about my bisexuality and my experiences wit girls.”
The “WAP” rapper, who is married to Offset and pregnant with their second child, lamented, “All of a sudden ‘queer baiting’ is the new word & people use it to the ground.”
Cardi said she doesn’t like the term because “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?”
Fans discussed the same point in the comments, with some noting that Ariana hasn’t labeled her sexuality publicly. In 2019, one fan tweeted that “ariana ain’t gotta label herself, but she said what she said.” Ari replied, saying, “i haven’t before and still don’t feel the need to now [black heart] [fairy emoji] which is okay.”
The “thank u, next” singer married real estate agent Dalton Gomez earlier this year.
After Cardi B defended her work, another fan shared their perspective, writing, “I think if you aren’t comfortable addressing your sexuality then you need to keep those aspects out of your videos. We’re looking for representation and it feels baiting, even if it isnt, without a firm claim that you are one of us.”
One social media user commented that queerbaiting is “essentially sexuality appropriation,” while another noted, “nobody’s sexuality should be anyone’s business tbh…..regardless whether they are a celebrity or not.”
