People saw his public gesture as a type of behavior that holds up an inequitable society.

 

Cardi B and Offset onstage at the Rolling Loud festival. The Migos rapper interrupted his wife’s headlining set to ask her forgiveness, sparking outrage on social media.Credit…Scott Dudelson/Getty Images

It’s possible that even a few years ago the gesture would have come across as sweet or romantic: a man begging his wife’s forgiveness in a public display of affection. But in 2018, when Offset interrupted Cardi B’s headlining set at a music festival to attempt a reconciliation, it came across as a move from an outdated playbook.

On Monday, Blavity’s daily newsletter opened with “Cardi B put on a historic performance over the weekend but her ex waddled to the stage to put the spotlight on his shortcomings.” A Teen Vogue article on the topic took off on social media. “A person’s decision to end a relationship should be respected — and not seen as a challenge,” the writer, De Elizabeth, asserted.

Cardi’s fans on Twitter called Offset selfish and manipulative, and wondered how he could be so audacious. Tarana Burke, an activist and the founder of the original “Me Too” movement, wrote that her Twitter timeline was full of women sharing “‘crazy ex’ stories that were ‘a little scary’ but ended up ok – kinda.”

In a thread, Ms. Burke relayed her own tale: When she was 16, an ex asked her to talk on the roof of his building. When she got there, he pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot her if she did not agree to get back together. “Few things are more scary than a rejected man with a bruised ego,” Ms. Burke wrote. “We are literally watching this slow moving train and regardless of how Cardi responds moving forward we can’t let this kind of behavior go unchecked.”

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