Mike Huckabee is coming out with a new book, "God, Guns, Grits and Gravy," in advance of his anticipated second presidential run in 2016. The book appears to be full of the sorts of insane, terrible things one would expect the former Arkansas governor and recently departed Fox News pundit to think and say according to a breakdown by U.S. News and World Report, which obtained an early copy of the manuscript.
In one example, the Huckster offers his thoughts on American royal couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z, ascribing some weird and totally inaccurate understanding of the pair's financial relationship -- which both have detailed in their music -- as well as Queen Bey's control over her own career and sexuality. Responding to the couple's 2014 Grammy performance of "Drunk In Love," Huckabee opines that Jay might not be doing right by his ever-so-dependent wife by letting her seductively dance on a chair the way she did:
My reaction: Why? Beyonce is incredibly talented – gifted, in fact. She has an exceptional set of pipes and can actually sing. She is a terrific dancer – without the explicit moves best left for the privacy of her bedroom. Jay-Z is a very shrewd businessman, but I wonder: Does it occur to him that he is arguably crossing the line from husband to pimp by exploiting his wife as a sex object?
Ah yes, Huckabee has reminded us of something important: Jay-Z is the only "very shrewd" bussinessperson in his marriage, because Beyoncé contributes a paltry $450 million to the couple's combined net worth of $1 billion. And let's not forget that Bey exerts notoriously little control over her public image, which is exactly how she was able to release an entire album (complete with accompanying music videos, plus bonus tracks) in the middle of the night without anyone anticipating a thing. She would be the last example of an "independent woman" I could come up with, to be sure. She has never once talked about being separate from her husband, nor about believing in equality for women or taking control over one's body. Nope. Never!
The one thing Huckabee is right about -- aside from identifying Jay-Z as an exceptional businessman -- is that Beyoncé is an extraordinary performer. The rest is typical in being misguided at best, sexist and racist at worst and generally just...wrong. So let's watch that Grammy performance, shall we?
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