Cardi B has responded to backlash over a homophobic lyric from her fianceé Offset in a live Periscope session. The Bronx rapper shared some thoughts on her partner's line "I cannot vibe with queers" in a verse from YFN Lucci's "Boss Life," arguing that he was not aware of the word's homophobic history, an argument he has used in his own defense.
“[Queer] has a different vocabulary on the dictionary,” she said, referencing the somewhat dated definition of "strange or odd" that Offset previously shared on Instagram. She went on to suggest that this be a teachable moment rather than one of outrage. “Now, that’s a word that you guys say that it’s a bad word for gays—I never even heard that word in the first place—why don’t y’all educate people about it? A lot of people are not aware about what’s wrong or right in the LGBT community. Why don’t we do things to educate instead of bashing and trying to label something that they not?”
She compared Offset's use of the word to her own use of the transphobic slur "tranny" in the past, which she said she had no idea had negative connotations due to her trans friends using it. She went on to argue that Offset treats gay people with respect in his day-to-day life. “I’m not going to let somebody call him ‘homophobic’ when I know that he’s not," she said. "I’m saying this because I seen him around these...around gays, and he treats them with the same respect he treats everybody. He never acts uncomfortable and he just don’t care.”
The stream comes after Cardi B passionately responded to a fan who suggested she deserved better than Offset in wake of the controversy surrounding his homophobic line.
Watch the full stream above.