Candace Owens calls Cardi B ‘cancer cell to culture’ after singer mocks Fox News segment

Not first confrontation between conservative pundit and rapper over song WAP

Conservative political commentator Candance Owens has hit out at Cardi B after the singer mocked her for a segment on Fox News.

In an appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Ms Owens’ said Cardi’s performance of her song “WAP” at the Grammys signified the “weakening of American society” and the “corrosion” and “end of an empire”.

Ms Owens’ comments were played out beside a still image of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion delivering their Grammys performance of the hit song on Sunday night. Underneath, the caption read: “’WAP’ is likely the most vulgar song to ever be performed at Grammys”.

Having seen a tweet with a video clip of the segment, Cardi reposted it with the comment: “Yaaaayyyyyyy WE MADE FOX NEWS GUYS !!! Wap wap wap”.

An unamused Ms Owens replied: “Just @ me next time, directly. You are a cancer cell to culture. Young black girls are having their minds poisoned by what you are trying to package and sell to them as ‘empowerment’.”

She continued: “I’m one of the few that has [the] courage to tell you the truth. You should thank me.”

Read more:

• Woman killed by police caught on bodycam 
• Sharon Osbourne’s US talk show pulled off-air amid ‘internal review’ into Piers Morgan comments 
• John Oliver says Prince Andrew must be ‘really about’ about Meghan and Harry interview

“WAP” features the two female rappers discussing how they want men to please them, using explicit sexual descriptions. It was critically acclaimed on its release in 2020 and topped the Billboard charts for four weeks.

Featuring a cameo-filled music video, the song has the honour of having the most searched for lyrics on Google of 2020.

Unsurprisingly, the song outraged conservatives on its release, including Tucker Carlson, who criticised it on his show in August 2020, saying: “It’s aimed at young American girls – maybe your girls, your granddaughters, and what is it doing to them? Can you imagine what it’s doing to them?”

This is also not the first time Cardi and Ms Owens have clashed over the song.

In a September 2020 interview with right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro, Ms Owens condemned then-presidential candidate Joe Biden for doing an interview with the “WAP” rapper.

She claimed Mr Biden thinks “black people are stupid” because he chose to sit down with an “illiterate rapper”.

Cardi responded by saying that Mr Biden did the interview with her because of how influential she is, having a number one song and a loyal fanbase.

“It’s not a secret I use my platform to encourage people to vote,” she said in a video on Instagram. “I love politics … Today, Candace Owens said some real nasty things about me.”

She added: “Just like I can make millions of people pop their p***y … I can make millions of people go vote.”

Cardi said Ms Owens was “getting pimped out by white men”, in a reference to her right-wing politics and association with Donald Trump.

“You have been this man’s cheerleader,” she said. “You’re a beautiful black woman, you talk great, amazing … and this man didn’t have the decency to let you talk at the Republican convention.”

Ms Owens responded: “Nobody cares about a song about your ‘Wet Ass P***y’. Excuse my language for my followers ... That has nothing to do with black America, and whether you’re helping or hurting. Right now, you’re hurting black America.”

Cardi had previously ridiculed Mr Shapiro when he was widely made fun of on social media for dryly reciting the explicit lyrics to the song and expressing his disgust.

In response, she shared a number of tweets mocking him, including retweeting images of Waylon Smithers, a character from The Simpsons, covering his eyes as half-naked women cavort in front of him.