Lil Nas X says BET was 'very upset' when he kissed his male dancer while performing last year
- Lil Nas X detailed his"painful" relationship with BET in a statement provided to Rolling Stone.
- The "Montero" singer said the network was "very upset" with his performance at the 2021 BET Awards.
Lil Nas X detailed his "painful" relationship with BET after receiving zero nominations for the 2022 BET Awards, which took place in Los Angeles on Sunday.
"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," the Grammy-winning singer and rapper told Rolling Stone in a statement.
"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," he continued.
Lil Nas X sparked outrage from conservative pundits and politicians when he released the pop-rap anthem "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)" in 2021. The theatrical music video portrays him as a fallen queer angel, riding a stripper pole down to hell and giving the devil a lap dance.
At the 2021 BET Awards, Lil Nas X delivered a Michael Jackson-inspired rendition of the hit single surrounded by topless male dancers. He concluded the performance by kissing one of them.
According to Lil Nas X and his team, showrunners were displeased with the kiss and said they felt "taken advantage of."
"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,'" a member of the artist's team, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, told Rolling Stone.
BET — which stands for Black Entertainment Television, a cable channel owned by Paramount — has denied having an issue with Lil Nas X, claiming in a statement, "no one cheered louder that night than BET" during his 2021 performance.
"They say that 'no one cheered louder' for me than them that night," Lil Nas X told Rolling Stone, "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."
On Friday, the hitmaker released a new song titled "Late To Da Party," which opens with Lil Nas X chanting "fuck BET." The artwork shows a BET Award statue in the toilet underneath a stream of urine.
"This not over no bet award this is about the bigger problem of homophobia in the black community," he clarified on Twitter.
"I just feel like black gay ppl have to fight to be seen in this world and even when we make it to the top mfs try to pretend we are invisible," he added in a since-deleted tweet.