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Cardi B's Instagram Live drama over Baby Reindeer and sexual orientation, explained
The rapper is slapping down "misleading" headlines.
Cardi B is firing back after a headline accused her of claiming "homosexuality can be caused by sexual assault." So what really went down?
Last week, the rapper went on Instagram Live to discuss her feelings about the new Netflix series, Baby Reindeer, about a struggling comedian (Richard Gadd) dealing with stalker (Jessica Gunning). Created by Gadd, it's based on real events that happened in his life, including confronting a past sexual assault by another man.
"It’s so important for us to know certain male perspectives about these types of things. Because women go through a lot of sexual assault, but we don’t really get to hear or see what other men go through when they experience sexual assault," Cardi said after recounting the scene. "It shocked me."
She explained that in the show, Gadd's character struggles with the shame of realizing he might have a sexual interest in men following his assault, before sharing her own thoughts on that process.
"I believe there’s some men that are born gay. I have a cousin that I just knew, since he was two years old, he was gay," she said. "And there’s men that get sexually assaulted, then they find out they are gay. People are always going to be judgmental, people are always going to not accept them. Sometimes people don’t even know their story or how they got there."
After that, several headlines popped up that summarized her remarks in a way that Cardi felt were "misleading," including one she shared on Twitter from HipHopDx.
"Cardi B claims homosexuality can be caused by sexual assault: 'Not everybody is born gay,'" read the original tweet.
"Wow.. this headline is so misleading for something that is so serious," she responded the following day, sharing video of her Instagram Live for "context."
While Cardi did admit she doesn't think everyone is gay from birth, she also didn't exactly say that sexual assault can make people gay. Instead, she suggested the experience might prompt some people to reevaluate how they identify.
That is still a controversial take, albeit one it sounds like the show was purposely exploring. And the rapper's main point with broaching the topic appeared to be advocating for space for people to have their own individual journeys with sexuality without outside judgment.
"This is the biggest problem with journalism, they always try to write what sounds more sensational," one Twitter user replied.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
