Lil Nas X says his relationship with BET “painful” and “strained” even before this year’s snub
The rapper says last year he had to convince BET he was "not a satanist or devil worshiper"
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Grammy winner Lil Nas X has shared more details about the “painful” and “strained” relationship between him and BET. Lil Nas X says the saga between him and the network did not begin with his snub this year, but started last year ahead of his performance at the awards show.
“My relationship with BET has been painful and strained for quite some time. It didn’t start with this year’s nominations like most people might think,” he tells Rolling Stone. “They did let me perform on their show last year, but only after [I gave] assurances that I was not a satanist or devil worshiper, and that my performance would be appropriate for their audience.”
Nas adds, “They say that ‘no one cheered louder’ for me than them that night, but the BET Awards team was actually very upset that I kissed my dancer onstage and vocalized their discontent with multiple members of my team immediately following the performance.”
An anonymous member of Lil Nas X’s team provided more details of the moments after the 2021 performance. “At some point after [Nas] got offstage, one of the BET producers came up to me and before I could even open my mouth, he looked at me and said, ‘That was really fucked up,’” the anonymous team alleges.
However, in a statement to the publication, BET shoots down Lil Nas X’s claims, calling the “summation of events around Lil Nas X’s 2021 BET Awards performance simply untrue.”
“Since last year’s performance, we have been in touch to work on other projects,” a representative for the company says. “We are still excited about his previous performances and continue to wish him well. But today, we are focused on culture’s biggest night and delivering history-making moments for fans worldwide.”
In a previous statement the network also said it is “passionate advocates for the wonderful diversity that exists within our community. We are committed to using all of our platforms to provide visibility and inclusion for all of the many intersections of the Black community.”
Following the BET Awards’ nomination announcement earlier this month, Lil Nas X tweeted, “Thank you BET awards. An outstanding zero nominations again. Black excellence.” He wrote that he wanted to address “the bigger problem of homophobia in the Black community.” Since then, the rapper has shared the song “Late To Da Party,” which boasts album art of someone urinating on a BET Award trophy.
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i mean, his whole PR image at the time was satanism so i’m not entirely shocked they felt a need to double check. BET is pretty damn openly religious for a tv network (not sure if they still do, but on sundays they basically played no music and it was pretty much strictly religious content like sermons).
Yeah, I am black and have stopped watching BET at least a decade ago, where the hell has he been? they showed Bobby Jones Gospel show for years, why is he shocked? And he shouldn’t be fooled by some of the black women who support him either. One of The first insult black women like to hurl at black men they don’t like is, “he gay”.
BET is pretty damn openly religious for a tv network
That’s odd. Which religion?
He put out both a Jesus shoe and a Satan shoe. Remember how much coverage that Jesus shoe with the holy water in the sole got?
He didn’t put out the holy water shoe. He put out the satan shoe with blood in the sole. Nike issued a cease and desist on the satan shoe but not the holy water shoe.
“his whole PR image at the time was satanism”No, it wasn’t. He played the devil in a music video, that doesn’t make him a Satanist. Is Chris Hemsworth’s entire PR image Norse Paganism because he plays Thor?
The whole point of that video was that Nas, like a lot of gay people, grew up with everyone telling him that his sexuality was demonic and came from Satan, so he decided to take that same devil imagery that Christians are constantly using and co-opt it. It helped expose a major double standard: There are evangelicals who rant about hell and damnation and the devil 24/7, but no one ever accuses them of “promoting satanism.” But Lil Nas X does it for three minutes and they start acting like he’s the antichrist.
I love this post so much
he did the shoes, too. it was a brief period but it was definitely a consistent branding thing at the time.not saying they ALSO aren’t being homophobic, of course.
It feels like it’s hard for progressives to acknowledge that religious people are generally more homophobic than non-religious people (pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/views-about-same-sex-marriage/) and since black people are the most religious subgroup (https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/racial-and-ethnic-composition/), their support for gay marriage and the like tends to lag behind. Essentially black communities are more supportive than religious white communities, but far less-so than most other subgroups.
Trump performed so well with Latinos, who tend to be pretty culturally conservative, for similar reasons. If the GOP weren’t such relentlessly racist and nativist shitbags they’d probably have the Latin American vote sewn up.
Dude. Do you have any idea how sweeping you’re being? “The Latin American vote.” Latine people are an incredibly diverse tapestry of cultures that originate from a whole ass continent and a half. You’re mostly referring to the white ones.It never ceases to amaze me how comfortable liberals are painting massive groups with a broad brush.
You’re right and what I said was dumb. The point I was attempting to make is that liberals shouldn’t have been surprised when so many Latinos supported Trump “against their interests,” because many Latinos are religious and socially conservative and clearly something about Trump and his message spoke to them. I think that point is valid, but I shouldn’t have concluded with that gross generalization about the “Latin American vote.” Like I said, that was dumb.
?
Shit sounds bonkers, but it was the black religious vote that got Prop. 8 passed 14 years ago in California.
I was thinking more “racist” but sure. Bonkers.
His songs are all sounding the same. Same beats, similar tunes. It’s just boring at this point.
No one cares about your utterly uneducated opinion on hip hop, you are literally white bread
Many styles rely on a single musical foundation. (The blues rely on a simple formula, as do waltzes, and reggaeton uses literally the same beat in every song.) Doesn’t mean there can’t be a great deal of variety within them, or that they are devoid of artistic merit. I’m not generally into hip-hop, and even I can tell the difference between the songs of his I’ve heard.
It’s the same. He’s always been about the gimmicks. In this supposed age of authenticity, he comes across as a phony.
“In this supposed age of authenticity,”huh?
Taking into account how difficult it must have been to be open about his sexuality in a very homophobic industry, calling him a “phony” is a very weird choice
I think it’s all a show.
Oh okay so you’re disgusting
He’s really neither a Satanist nor a devil worshipper? Then fuck it. I’m throwing my albums out!(I had to capitalize “Satanist” in order to please the Almighty Spell Check.)
Meanwhile…zero fucks given about how much nearly-bare tits and ass the ladies can shake around in everyone’s faces while simulating every lascivious act under the sun. High morals, indeed BET.
At some point people are going to learn that when you lead with “I didn’t get an award” you’ve made everything about you, and whatever point you try and make after that sounds like sour grapes.Who am I kidding, no one learns anything.
Maybe Nas would be upset if he didn’t win an award, but he’s only really complaining about not having been nominated. And in a year where he released two pretty huge songs that get a ton of radio play, it seems that he should have gotten at least one nomination, all other things being equal. Honestly, I doubt he even cares about winning an award, he just recognizes the insult of being snubbed.
But today, we are focused on culture’s biggest night and delivering history-making moments for fans worldwide
HAHAHA!!! Wait, BET really believe they are relevant outside the US and maybe a couple of other places? Let me laugh even harder! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Honestly, as a black person myself, I don’t think they are even relevant inside the US. The station isn’t even owned by black people, and they are the least consistent of all when it comes to what they (the event producers) focus on year to year. I think they do have some decent shows/storylines about black lesbians, but they really fail when it comes to black gay men. (I guess its relatively accurate of the larger black culture in that there is a greater acceptance of women being gay, but not for black men. IMO.)
Lil NAs X shouldn’t care about the BETs.
More like, he shouldn’t have to. But unfortunately, this is the world we live in.
BET sounds like a bunch of Gen X hoteps