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Stephen Colbert’s ‘petition’ to have Cardi B give the State of the Union rebuttal gets thousands of signatures

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January 24, 2019 at 11:30 a.m. EST
Cardi B's recent political videos apparently got the attention of comedian Stephen Colbert, who wants her to give the rebuttal to President Trump's State of the Union address. (Kyle Gustafson for The Washington Post) (Photo by Kyle Gustafson/For The Washington Post)

The State of the Union is . . . “Bodak Yellow”?

Comedian Stephen Colbert suggested Wednesday that rapper Cardi B give the traditional rebuttal to the president’s annual address. “I am starting a petition for the Democrats to let @iamcardib give the rebuttal to the SOTU,” Colbert tweeted. “Sign it by retweeting this!”

By Thursday morning, his crusade had gotten more than 23,000 retweets and nearly 40,000 “likes.”

Colbert’s idea for the nomination was apparently inspired by the “Money” artist’s recent politically charged Instagram videos. In one, she blamed President Trump for the partial government shutdown, using messaging that might be more profane than your usual cable TV chatter but succinct nonetheless. “Our country is in a hellhole right now,” Cardi B told her nearly 40 million social media followers last week. “All for a . . . wall.”

Her delivery even got the attention of a few Democratic senators who mused about whether to share Cardi’s f-bomb-laden video. (They ultimately didn’t.)

Not everyone is a fan of her political activity, though. She tweeted this week about the blowback: “All these conservatives been harassing me and telling me the most disgusting things these past few days,” she wrote. “Listen I’m not telling ya to turn liberal all I’m saying is to admit that your president is [messing] up this country right now! Liberal or conservative we ALL suffer as citizens.”

Cardi B clashes with conservative commentator Tomi Lahren over shutdown: ‘I will dog walk you’

At the moment, though, Colbert’s crusade might be moot: It isn’t clear when Trump will deliver the traditional speech. After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) basically disinvited him from the Capitol building, Trump tweeted late Wednesday that he would wait until after the shutdown ends to give the address.