Fans petition to have Kylie Jenner removed from ‘WAP’ video

When Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion released their now-iconic single “WAP” on August 7, fans were in their feelings over all of the fire cameos that populated the video and made the sexy track even more about female BIPOC empowerment, from Normani and Rubi Rose to Sukihana, Rosalía and Mulatto. One person that not all viewers were too excited to see, though? Kylie Jenner.The Kardashian sister and makeup mogul only makes a brief, 20-second cameo in a leopard print outfit and is seen sauntering down a hallway in slo-mo, but it was 20 seconds too many for the 64,000-plus people who have since signed a Change.org petition, created by users Nini YouTube, Megan Hotties and Bardo Gangs, to remove her from the video altogether. Critics are arguing that Jenner, who has been accused of cultural appropriation in the past, has no place next to the other women.[video_embed id='2010022']RELATED: Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B’s collab is here[/video_embed]“She is a culture vulture who doesn’t remember how her own complexion looks! Down with the culture vultures,” reads one comment on the petition. “Kylie Jenner has a longer cameo than her ‘actually talented’ counterparts,” reads another. “Her being in the video made zero sense. Every single woman on the video was a musical artist and yet Kylie was the only one who had no singing or rapping capabilities.”

 

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#WAP

A post shared by Kylie ? (@kyliejenner) on Aug 7, 2020 at 12:44pm PDT

The debate continued on Twitter, where users also pointed out that Jenner’s cameo was of her walking down a hall while the other women “worked harder,” and called for potential replacements or just shared their downright disappointment with the casting choice.

Betty White is trending because people are saying they wish she would have been in #WAP instead of Kylie Jenner.

lmaooo— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) August 7, 2020

The music video was meant to represent black beauty and black women yet the music video begins with a white woman..... let that sink in#KylieJenner #WAP #WAPMusicVideo pic.twitter.com/zequy9KM6Q

— Skyneverthelimit (@ArtofLilibeth) August 7, 2020

NOT KYLIE JENNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #WAP pic.twitter.com/itnt7tuzGy

— bussy boy (@KrisBeKnowin) August 7, 2020

When I saw Kylie Jenner walk out like if she had a verse ? #WAP pic.twitter.com/aRq0Vu2l1B

— Natasha Del Riego (@ndelriego) August 7, 2020

After the petition started gaining traction over the weekend, Cardi B. took to Twitter to defend Jenner’s casting in a since-deleted series of tweets (plus a few others that she kept up on her account). It all started when one commenter shared a shot of Normani doing the splits and wrote “Normani did ALL this and Kylie walked down the hall and opened a door. If that’s not a perfect visual indication of Black women having to do the most and white women do the bare minimum to get somewhere I don’t know what is.”In response, Cardi B wrote back, “Normani is one of the best female artist that dances Like she dances her f---in ass off. Why would she open a door? Please tell me how that would make sense? The best part of the song is the beat & hook it what makes you want to shake your ass.”

I wanna say thank you to every woman that was apart of my video! The fact that you made time in your schedules means alot to me! It was so important to me to include different women,that are different races and come from different backgrounds but are so powerful and influential.

— iamcardib (@iamcardib) August 7, 2020

In the next tweet Cardi B added, “Not everything is about race" and further clarified her casting choice.“Why did I put Kylie on my music video? She treated my sister [Hennessy] and daughter [Kulture] so lovely at her kid [Stormi‘s] bday party. Travis and Set are real close and Kris Jenner have giving me advice on certain things I ask for and her husband real cool with mine.”

Exactly https://t.co/JOVgZdTJus

— iamcardib (@iamcardib) August 9, 2020

So far Jenner’s sole response to the comments and petition was to release behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot on her Instagram account. For her part, Megan Thee Stallion has also remained quiet, choosing to use her social media accounts to focus on the “WAP” release instead.The video  has been seen nearly 60 million times and had the biggest debut on YouTube for an all-female collaboration.[video_embed id='2005847']BEFORE YOU GO: Ellen DeGeneres addresses 'toxic' workplace allegations: 'I am sorry'[/video_embed]