Russell Brand faces backlash for 'mansplaining feminism' | Comic criticises Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion for their raunchy video

Russell Brand faces backlash for 'mansplaining feminism'

Comic criticises Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion for their raunchy video

Russell Brand is facing a backlash over a video berating Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion for their overt sexuality.

The comedian has been accused of trying to ‘mansplain feminism’ – as well as rank hypocrisy given his own promiscuous past – after he criticised the raunchy video for the duo’s new single WAP.

In his monologue, entitled Feminist Masterpiece Or P*rn? – that asterisk his own coy censorship - ,Brand, 45, suggested it was not a feminist move to emulate the sexual swagger of male hip-hop stars, saying: ‘Do we achieve equality by aspiring to the values established by the forces or authors of the hierarchy and system itself?’

‘I wouldn’t be so reductive and simplistic to say that women celebrating their bodies using an aesthetic that’s conventionally been associated with the male gaze means it’s impossible that these tools could be used as a vehicle for liberation,’ he argued in his usual long-winded way. 

‘But I am saying that, in a sense, it’s still the same metric – it’s still the same aesthetic, it’s still the same values, it’s still the same ideals. It’s still ultimately a sort of capitalist objectification and commodification of, in this case, the female.’

In the video, he likened the duo to Margaret Thatcher, saying the former PM was not a feminist icon because ‘the values she conveyed were male values - she was a woman-man… her premiership did not lead to more opportunity for women, more success for women, conventional female values such  as nurturing, caringness, equality.’

But he was widely condemned on Twitter.

Comic Deborah Frances-White, creator of The Guilty Feminist podcast, said: ‘I really don’t want to be taught feminism by Russell Brand. But I look forward to Louis CK’s thoughts on why Beyoncé is getting it all wrong.’

Dance studio Kelechi Okafor called Brand out for racism as well as sexism, despite him espousing woke credentials.

She tweeted to gum: ‘You should’ve really stayed in your lane. What you’re doing here stinks of misogynoir. You are in *no* position to critique how Black women *choose* to express themselves. Your facade of being conscious is slipping and the racist is showing.’

TV historian Kate Williamms agreed with her, saying: ‘Black women reclaiming discourse and self-expression against a society of oppression & stereotypes and he’s trying to push them back.’

And  US comedian Whitney Cummings was to the point when she said: ‘Imagine giving a shit what Russell Brand thinks about literally anything.’

Published: 16 Aug 2020

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