Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s panties seem to be wadded up and affecting his ability to think rationally. Last night, Carlson alerted America that the “pornographic” performance with rappers Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion on the 2021 Grammy Awards is an attempt to “degrade our culture and hurt our children.”
Let’s celebrate that we live in a country where we have the freedom to call out those who choose to use their media platforms to instill fear that their culture in America is under attack.
The performance of the suggestive song, “ WAP,” featured rappers Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion performing for the first time together; and as I mentioned on my radio show, it was quite a spectacle. I referred to the performance as a “super-spreader event that had nothing to do with COVID.”
Alone, both Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion wear their sexuality as casually as a date wears a corsage to a prom. Together their sexual energy was beyond measurement. Predicting the reaction of some like right-wing host Tucker Carlson would have to the Grammy performance, I was proactive in reminding us all that in the context of the world in which we live, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s performance was no more sexually outrageous than Madonna’s 1984 MTV music video awards performance of “Like A Virgin.”
In the “Like A Virgin” performance 37 years ago, Madonna came out of a 17-ft. Wedding cake wearing a white mini wedding dress with a bustier and a belt buckle that boldly read, “BOY TOY.” At the time, the sight of Madonna rolling around on the floor in her sexy wedding dress ledmany people to condemn the performance as mocking morality in America. The criticism then was similar to the criticism of the intense sexuality that was on display with Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion.
And for those who might diminish the impact of Madonna performing on MTV and Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion performing on CBS, I would point out that the MTV Music Video Awards air during prime time and younger generations do not distinguish between broadcast and cable TV. Every channel is on an equal playing field.
Sexuality on display at music awards shows is not unusual. Remember Miley Cyrus breaking from her image as Hannah Montana when she made twerking look like a sex act while constanting putting the length of her tongue on display during the MTV VMAs in 2013? After that performance, Cyrus said in an interview that she “felt sexualized.”
Criticism of music and sexuality dates back to Elvis Presely, whose gyrating hips were considered too sexually suggestive for television requiring Elvis’ performances to only show him from the waist up. A young Mick Jagger was seen as representing raw sexuality and songs like “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and “Let’s Spend the Night Together” enhanced promotion of sex. Appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show, producers required Mick to sing “Let’s spend some time together” rather than the line, “Let’s spend the night together” during their performance of that song.
The alarm sounded by Tucker Carlson warning of the moral decay of American society is part of a typical pattern of the media using a controversial issue to attract and feed an audience with a predisposed political mentality. Maybe Carlson really believes that the recent performance with Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion was inappropriate, but to label it “pornographic” exposes Carlson as nothing more than a radical alarmist who is entertaining his audience.
The debate over what is and what is not pornographic reached a peak in 1984 with the reelection of President Reagan, whose attorney general, Ed Meese, launched a full investigation into pornography as a payback to the Religious Right for helping Reagan get reelected.
The Meese Commission concluded that “Playboy” and “Penthouse” were pornographic, which led to court action against the Commission and a judge’s demand that the two magazines be removed from the list of pornographic material. Court rulings have concluded that while pornography is not always easy to define, there is a distinct line between pornography and adult content.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation issued a statement that the performance with Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion “contributed to the sexual exploitation of women by glamorizing prostitution and stripping.”
The danger in calling that assessment wrong is that some will equate that to supporting sex trafficking, and that is not a fair assumption.
If you choose to accept Tucker Calrson’s opinion of the Grammy performance of the song “WAP,” then accept that you are being used by a top-rated cable TV host to scare you into believing that American society is doomed. Carlson is #1 in the cable news ratings and who can blame him for using false hysteria to satisfy his audience.
The performance of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion on the Grammy Awards Sunday night on CBS will be no more responsible for others' behavior than Madonna’s dance, Miley Cryus’ twerk, or Elvis’ gyrating hips.
Use discretion when consuming mass media and do not always accept what you see or hear as anything more than a superficial attempt to get and hold your attention.
