Cardi B fires back at Musk over ‘Kamala puppet’ remark after teleprompter snafu
Rapper Cardi B hit back at right-wingers accusing her of being a "puppet" for Democrats after her teleprompter broke during her speech at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday night.
Detractors online boosted clips of the incident, mocking the rapper's response to the broken teleprompter.
"She had no idea what to do for over a minute until someone ran on the stage to give her a phone to read off. Holy embarrassing," wrote one person who shared the video.
That clip, which racked up nearly 75 million views on X, shows Cardi B telling the audience "one second guys, one second" before awkwardly pausing and smiling for 15 seconds.
"Okay, so I don't take lightly to call—" she says, before interrupting herself. "Sorry guys, I'm a little nervous. I'm a little nervous guys. I've been waiting for this moment this whole life, my whole life."
She called for her publicist Patience Foster to come assist her, saying: "I need Patience over here. Patience, where are you girl? I need Patience over here."
The rapper then paused for another moment before composing herself and getting the crowd cheering as she asked if they were "ready to make history" before someone handed her a phone.
Cardi B's pausing drew a storm of mockery and criticism from right-wingers online.
"Cardi B is a product of a fake world where talent doesn't matter," wrote one person. "If you can't even talk without a teleprompter, you're just another puppet."
"Everything is scripted. Nothing is real with them," rebuked someone else.
"the fact she couldn’t even improvise and talk about the state of America or why people should vote Kamala is very telling…" swiped another commenter.
Echoing the criticism was Elon Musk, who called Cardi B "another puppet who can’t even talk without being fed the words."
"The Kamala campaign has no authenticity or true empathy," he added.
Musk's comment provoked an emphatic condemnation from Cardi B on Saturday.
"I’m not a puppet Elon.. I’m a daughter of two immigrant parents that had to work their ass off to provide for me!" she said. "I’m a product of welfare, I’m a product of section 8, I’m a product of poverty and I’m a product of what happens when the system is set up against you….But you don’t know nothing about that. You don’t know not one thing about the American struggle…. PS fix my algorithm."
While her response was met with praise from Harris supporters, Trump's supporters are doubling down on their criticism—with many baselessly speculating she has nefarious ties to rapper Diddy, who was charged with sex trafficking in September.
"How much did they pay you?" replied the right-wing account Hodgetwins.
"Are you on the Diddy list?" asked another right-wing influencer.
"Nah you a puppet fr," concluded someone else.
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