After being passed over for nominations at the 2022 BET Awards, Lil Nas X is speaking out about his tense relationship with the BET in previous years.
The “Old Town Road” rapper was frustrated that neither he nor his platinum debut Montero had been nominated for any categories at the annual award show, which took place on Sunday, June 26. He vented his rage on Twitter and in the fiery diss track “Late To Da Party” with NBA YoungBoy. After Lil Nas X dropped the record, BET responded by stating they “love Lil Nas X.”
BET’s response:
“He was nominated for a best new artist BET Award in 2020. We proudly showcased his extraordinary talent and creativity on the show twice,” BET reminds their audience. “He performed ‘Old Town Road’ with Billy Ray Cyrus at BET Awards 2019. His BET Awards 2021 performance was a highlight of our show. No one cheered louder that night than BET.”
They also shared, “Unfortunately, this year, he was not nominated by BET’s voting academy. Which is comprised of an esteemed group of nearly 500 entertainment professionals in the fields of music, television, film, digital marketing, sports journalism, public relations, influencers, and creative arts. No one from BET serves as a member of the voting academy.”
No devil worship allowed:
Lil Nas X responded to these remarks in an interview with Rolling Stone that also went public on Sunday (June 26), stating they only permitted him to play after he convinced them he wasn’t “a devil worshipper.”
“My relationship with BET has been painful and strained for quite some time,” the hit rapper comments. “It didn’t start with this year’s nominations like most people might think. 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.”
A member of Lil Nas X’s crew claims that the problem with BET began in 2021 when he performed a lapdance for the devil in the music video for “Montero” and launched his contentious “Satan Shoes” with MSCHF.
“The response we got back was, ‘We need to clarify a few things,'” an unnamed team member told Rolling Stone. “Is he a Satanist? Are there going to be elements of devil worship or satan in the show? I was so taken aback by it. We’d been fielding those questions from people for months by that point after the video and the shoes. And of course, the answer was no, and we obviously got the slot. But it blew our minds.”
Too raw for TV:
“They say that ‘no one cheered louder for me than them that night”. Lil Nas X recalls, “but the BET Awards team was actually very upset that I kissed my dancer on stage. And vocalized their discontent with multiple members. This is because of my team immediately following the performance.”
Rolling Stone reached out to BET in order to request a rebuttal, and BET assured that they are definitely, “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”.
