Cardi B ranted about a conspiracy theory she has surrounding the current pandemic, which Idris Elba recently called foolish.
Over the weekend, Cardi brought up the number of celebrities who’ve said they’ve tested positive for the illness, and she believes something questionable is going on.
But before Cardi gave her theory, she talked about how China has dealt with the pandemic so far.
“They quarantined people, they were spraying s–t in the streets,” she said on Instagram Live. “They were knocking on each door, taking people’s temperature. … They were like doing strict quarantine on them.”
Cardi then went into her personal theory about the illness.
“[The government is] not really saying what it is,” she stated. “Tell me what it is and what it ain’t. I’m starting to feel like y’all n—-s is paying n—-s to say that they got it. If y’all are … pay me too.”
Elba, who’s already tested positive for the illness, blasted Cardi’s theory. Earlier this week, his wife Sabrina Dhowre also said she’s been infected.
Plus, Elba hand-waved away the idea that he received preferential treatment because he was able to get tested while there’s a severe shortage of tests in the United States.
“I think the debate about rich and poor and who’s getting it and who’s not, I think, is not a healthy debate,” he said on Instagram Live.
“I think that the negativity around test-shaming is counterproductive. I don’t see what people get out of that, and also this idea that someone like myself is gonna be paid to say I’ve got [the illness]. That’s absolute bullsh–. Such stupidness,” added Elba.
“People wanna spread that as if it’s news. That’s stupid,” he went on. “It’s the quickest way to get people sick because there’s no benefit to me and Sabrina sitting here saying we’ve got it or we ain’t got it. I don’t even understand the logic of that.”
Elba then doubled down on the issue of inequities in testing, saying the outcome of his test somehow establishes that he did not get special treatment in getting the opportunity to be tested.
“I’m not an actor right now,” he explained. “I’m just a human being, and I just happen to be in the public eye. So I want people to understand that this is very real. I don’t feel like I’m privileged because I got a test, because I actually contracted it.”
On Tuesday, March 24, Cardi seemed to respond to Elba in an Instagram video that she captioned “I said what I said.”
“If No. 45 is getting on a podium saying, ‘Hey, listen, if you do not have any symptoms’ … which is coughing, fever, whatsoever, etc., etc., ‘do not get tested. Because we don’t have enough [tests] to test everybody. But if a celebrity is saying, ‘Hey, listen, I don’t have no symptoms. I’m feeling good, I feel healthy, I don’t feel like nothing, but I went and got tested and I’m positive … That cause confusion,” said Cardi.
