This weekend, the quarantine of ouroboros finally returned to eat its own tail. Only, instead of a snake, imagine a giant tiger pooping on its hind end. In a statement to Billboard, Carole Baskin called Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s recently released “WAP” music video for big cats, including leopards and white tigers. The issue at hand for the Tiger King subject is not the proximity of exotic animals to the most beloved rappers of our nation (the cats are in fact clearly edited), but rather where those leopards and tigers came from, by whom they were supplied by, and how ‘ t they were charged to be filmed.
“My judgment is that most people will not even see the Photoshopped cats in the scenes because the rest are so lurid,” Baskin said Billboard. “I was happy to see that it all looks Photoshopped. It did not look like the cats were really in the rooms with the singers. In fact, most rooms are often Photoshopped via green screen. That being said, you have to pose a wildcat for a green screen to get that image, and that does not happen in the wild. ‘
“It can not happen in shrines like ours, where cats have a lot of space to avoid a green screen (or it would shatter if access were granted and could die by eating it),” she continues. ‘That tells me they’re probably dealing with one of the big-cat pimps, who makes a fuss of beating, shocking and hungry cats to leave them standing on a sign in front of a green screen in a studio. That’s never good for the cat. ”
On a larger scale, Baskin argues, with the use of big cats as a visual shorthand for opulence and luxury, the public may wish to own them, or at least buy access to them when they are in their prime. “The worst part is that it reflects the idea that rich people have tigers as pets,” she says. “That makes any ignorant follower want to imitate him by doing the same. After tigers are too old for pay-to-play sessions by the likes of Joe Exotic, Bhagavan Antle, Marc McCarthy, Mario Tabraue, and others, they become a liability instead of an asset. Although I think most are destroyed at that point behind closed gates, some are eventually given away to people who want a tiger to show up. That never works out, and the cats die or end up in shrines or, worse, breeding grounds. However, it is always abused for the cat. ”
