Lil Nas X, the openly gay 22-year-old rapper, singer and songwriter, has had a very successful year.
2021 saw the release of Nas' highly controversial song "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)" that featured an accompanying music video where Nas does a literal pole dance to hell where he finds himself in several suggestive positions on Satan's lap.
Nas performed the hit on the BET Awards, where he kissed another man on stage near the end of his number.
You can see the performance here:
The crowd cheered.
Response to the moment lit up Twitter, since it was a surprise and an incredibly powerful statement for a young, queer man of color to make.
Lil Nas X is so important. Not for just \u201crepresentation\u201d and combatting homophobia from outside of the queer community, but for dismantling a lot of the internalized homophobia and anti-femme sentiments from within the queer community as well.— maybe: Phillip (@maybe: Phillip) 1624907180
I hope Lil Nas X knows how well-loved he is by queer Black folx despite the noise coming from YTs who hate Black folks just for breathing & queers who have yet to have a come-to-Jesus moment about how homophobia still very much affects how they express themselves as adults.— Clarkisha Kent (@Clarkisha Kent) 1624911685
all lil nas x does is be super gay and make people mad and honestly that is the blueprint— Matt Bellassai (@Matt Bellassai) 1624911149
Watching Lil Nas X refuse to let bigots force shame on him is incredible.pic.twitter.com/yViPGtGaYL— Ben Yahr (@Ben Yahr) 1624912663
But, as always, Lil Nas X is facing homophobia now.
After invoking African (and specifically ancient Egyptian) culture in the aesthetic and in the choreography of his piece, he received some hatred for not "[respecting his] ancestors."
Nas made sure the public knew this was nonsense.
y\u2019all really like to pretend homosexuality didn\u2019t exist in african culturehttps://twitter.com/ghettogod9/status/1409340022814298113\u00a0\u2026— nope \ud83c\udff9 (@nope \ud83c\udff9) 1624850267
And some folks followed up with mini African history lessons.
In ,\n\u201cMudoko dako\u201dnwere treated as women and could marry men. \nThe Bunyoro had cross dressing / homosexual male priests. \nThe\u00a0iTeso acknowledged a category of men who dressed as women.\nKabaka Mwanga was bisexual \n\nOnly after the christianity did we stop many African cultures!https://twitter.com/LilNasX/status/1409350286586507266\u00a0\u2026— \ud835\udcd2\ud835\udcf5\ud835\udcea\ud835\udcfb\ud835\udcee (@\ud835\udcd2\ud835\udcf5\ud835\udcea\ud835\udcfb\ud835\udcee) 1624865688
We (the gays) are in every culture.https://twitter.com/lilnasx/status/1409350286586507266\u00a0\u2026— Alyssa Nicole Cabrera (@Alyssa Nicole Cabrera) 1624855511
One of the former kings was homosexual. But they aren\u2019t ready for that conversationhttps://twitter.com/lilnasx/status/1409350286586507266\u00a0\u2026— Shoddy (@Shoddy) 1624911927
Wheeeew a Ted talk for another day. The level of toxic homophobia that exist in the black community is the result of Colonization of Africa and chattel slavery. I know people aren\u2019t ready for that conversation thoooo, but still it must be had https://twitter.com/LilNasX/status/1409350286586507266\u00a0\u2026— Alfonso Tolbert (@Alfonso Tolbert) 1624852766
Tell them about RA and Egypt people need to educate themselves..https://twitter.com/LilNasX/status/1409350286586507266\u00a0\u2026— FWyine Magazine (@FWyine Magazine) 1624924811
A handy 2015 column from The Guardian contains more examples of LGBTQ+ representation in traditional African culture.
Another homophobic Tweeter claimed Nas' red carpet attire was going to corrupt the youth.
"I'm sure he was paid a million dollars to wear this nonsense. This will cause other little boys that admire him to dress this way for free and I hate seeing men emasculated."
Nas responded with an affirmation the emasculation of all men was his clear goal.
we causing the emasculation of men all 2021 https://twitter.com/__february23/status/1409481788850950144\u00a0\u2026— nope \ud83c\udff9 (@nope \ud83c\udff9) 1624881729
The hetros are upsetro— Liv \ud83d\udc96\ud83d\udc9b\ud83d\udc99 (@Liv \ud83d\udc96\ud83d\udc9b\ud83d\udc99) 1624881822
Hold up, who's handing out "being gay" money?— Moon-faced Assassin of Joy (@Moon-faced Assassin of Joy) 1624893462
mfs getting paid to be gay? didn\u2019t know that was an option hol uppic.twitter.com/Nz1l1AfmuD— HEAVENLY CONTROLLER \ud83d\udc51 (@HEAVENLY CONTROLLER \ud83d\udc51) 1624882035
Good morning kingpic.twitter.com/I3Z0DtVDld— \ud81a\ude06 (@\ud81a\ude06) 1624881838
Nas' boundary-breaking comes with more than a little pushback, as what he is doing was hardly ever attempted on such a grand scale.
But plenty of fans are continuing to love his work, and he's not going anywhere.
Ash Stanton/Facebook
Laura Sprinkle/Facebook
Akira Karasu/Facebook
Cevanna Gilbert/Facebook
Troy Adam/Facebook
@GovPressOffice/X
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social