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Lil Nas X felt unsafe after Montero video and hired security after his car was chased
Lil Nas X felt unsafe after the release of Montero (Picture: REX/Backgrid)
Lil Nas X hired security after he was targeted with abuse following the video for Montero (Call Me By Your Name).
After shooting to fame with the country-rap number one hit Old Town Road, Lil Nas X has leaned into his queerness with his latest singles and accompanying videos.
The video for his March release Montero featured the 22-year-old sliding down a pole into hell and performing a lapdance for Satan.
Explaining that he doesn’t address homophobic comments in the hip-hop and rap community for his own safety, Lil Nas X said that an incident he believes was connected to the video forced him to hire security.
He told Variety: ‘The honest truth is, I don’t want to speak on a lot of the homophobia within rap because I feel like this is a very dangerous playing field. It’s more for my own safety rather than anything else.’
Saying there are ‘absolutely’ times he has felt unsafe, the star, real name Montero Hill, said: ‘Especially after [Montero]. There was literally someone who chased my car a few days after that video came out, yelling, “F*** you!” or something. And that’s when I actually started getting security.’
While he couldn’t be sure that the confrontation was triggered by the video, he added: ‘I feel like it couldn’t be a coincidence.’
The Grammy winner isn’t backing down, though, and followed up Montero with the track Industry Baby, which includes a scene where a naked Lil Nas X – albeit with his privates pixelated – dances in a prison shower block with his fellow nude inmates.
While Lil Nas X has not directly addressed DaBaby’s homophobic comments and T.I.’s defence of him, or slurs directly aimed at him, like those from Boosie Badazz, he often hits back humourously at troll comments about his sexuality on social media.
The rapper said the pandemic made him stop trying to please everybody and got him out of the idea of ‘He’s a cool gay person; he’s an acceptable gay person’.
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He said: ‘I used to see things like that as a compliment, but it’s not. It just means you’re a people pleaser, and they never become legends. I wanted to be even more authentic in my music and let people into my life. I’m much more confident now — in my music, myself, my sexuality, the things that I believe that I stand for.’
Lil Nas X came out publicly as gay in the summer of 2019, when he was sitting at number one in the Billboard charts with Old Town Road.
In recent months, the star has been praised for bringing visibility to the LGBTQ+ community within the rap industry, with high-profile performances at the BET Awards and on Saturday Night Live.
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