Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion released their song "WAP" with a music video early on Friday. People on social media pretty much unanimously agreed that the song and production are overall very, very good. Many also reacted in unison to a surprise cameo by Kylie Jenner in the video.
But they hated it.
The music video featured a whole host of cameos from other artists like Normani, Mulatto, and Sukihana. Jenner appears at about the 1:40 mark and her cameo lasts less than 30 seconds.
But it was enough to draw a range of reactions online: genuine shock, hilarious aversion, and valid criticism about cultural appropriators being "accepted" by Black figures.
Oh not Kylie
The reactions online seemed very visceral. In fact, "when I saw Kylie in 'WAP'" posts have already become their own meme.
@mrsniquesquared As soon as I seen Kylie I was like
Someone has already edited the entire Jenner scene out of the video.
I EDITED KYLIE OUT AND ADDED THE EXPLICIT VERSION WE DESERVE #WAP
Someone even started a Change.org petition to officially remove her cameo. "The video was perfect until we saw K and I wanted to throw my phone," the creator wrote. It received about 2,000 signatures within 20 minutes.
"I was happily enjoying my daily cup of brown women until that culture stealing colonizer showed up and made me spill. Thank you," a supporter wrote.
Even though the reactions are funny (one person imagined what Jenner opened the door to — LOL), they're rooted in long-standing resentment against her and the Kardashian empire. Over the last decade, Jenner and members of her family have consistently been criticized for exploiting or performing facets of Black culture when it benefits their image or brand.
Where Kylie went after she opened the door in Cardi and Meg's #WAP video.
Some critics online accused the two rappers of being complicit by sharing their platform with Jenner and giving her cameo a prominent position. They said they believed cameos should have been reserved for Black women in rap music.
Other commentators pushed back against the criticism by arguing that Jenner’s inclusion would ultimately work in Cardi B’s favor given her social media following and the inevitable debate that has followed.
The betrayal of Kylie Jenner popping up in that video. It felt like a betrayal, I thought we were in a Black space, Chile! https://t.co/2PSVCWMxsk
Cardi B even liked a tweet that said: “Kylie in the #WAP video equals people moaning about Kylie in the video, which equals people tweeting about Kylie in the video, which equals people who haven’t seen the video going to watch the video to find out why Kylie’s in the video. Cardi’s getting those hits.”
I want to read a think piece on Black celebrity women accepting known cultural appropriators and the reasoning of why this happens and implications of this behavior. While I adore cardi and meg, why do they ignore this about Kylie??
BuzzFeed News has reached out to Jenner's team for comment.
I loveeeeee the new Video with @iamcardib & @theestallion but i feel like the director missed his part in one part. The scene with Kylie how ever you spell her name should have been @LilKim it would have made so much sense and what the hell does Kylie have to do with anything 🤷🏽♂️