Earlier today, American rapper Cardi B tweeted the following to her 31.4 million followers:
She has since deleted it.
What did she mean by the tweet? The clue is in her Instagram stories (where she has a whopping 168 million followers):
It seems her Tweet was referring to the fact her lawyers – who are Jewish – helped get her cleared of wrongdoing for throwing a microphone at a fan. The words “Lawyer is a Jew he gon’ chew up all the charges” are part of her 2018 hit Bickenhead.
In other words, it seems the tweet was meant as a compliment, even though it plays into a particular stereotype of Jews as merciless lawyers.
However, at a time of rising hate crimes against Jews, especially religious Jews in the USA, the tweet could easily be misinterpreted. When I first saw it, I thought she was referring to the fact Jews have perpetrated [insert supposed crime].
This is not the first controversy surrounding Cardi B and her comments about Jews, but like this tweet, her previous comments seem to have been misunderstood.
The internet can do without Cardi B talking about the Holocaust.
A quote from the rapper’s new interview with W magazine has people fired up at her — and the publication. The entertainer (real name: Belcalis Almánzar) is being criticized for even bringing up the genocide, and the mag is being panned for posting just that quote from her full interview — which touched on topics ranging from her romance with Offset to the plastic surgery she’s had — seemingly in hopes of igniting a fury.
In the interview, Cardi talked about being enrolled at Borough of Manhattan Community College, where she took courses in political science and history. While she later dropped out to pursue a stripping career, she said she kept up with the subjects by watching the news and documentaries. “For some reason, I’m really fascinated with the Holocaust,” she said. “People were so naive back then to believe certain things. But then, we in 2018, and there’s people that believe that our problems come from a certain group of people. It just baffles my mind.”
Call me crazy, but I think her comments are not only fine, but welcomed. At a time when so many celebrities with huge followings are denigrating Jewish people, pointing out the dangers of scapegoating is a good thing.
However, her latest tweet, although seemingly made with good intentions, could be misconstrued as the very scapegoating against which she has spoken.
