Lil Nas X Calls Out BET Awards After Hit Debut LP ‘Montero’ Snubbed
BET Award nominations were announced earlier this month, and Lil Nas X was disappointed to find that he wasn’t given a single nomination. This is surprising, given his album, Montero, released last year was critically acclaimed, dominated the the charts, and went viral among the general public.
Eleven of the 15 songs on Montero charted on the Billboard Hot 100, and three have been in the number one spot. Montero also debuted in the number two spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart and racked up a handful of Grammy nominations this year; Montero was up for Album of the Year and “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” was nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Music Video.
Lil Nas X also performed “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” and brought out Jack Harlow for “Industry Baby” at last year’s BET Awards. The performance went viral, and his speech that night made LGBTQ folks and allies cheer him on. So to go from his art being celebrated on the BET stage to having no nominations this year, despite the extremely visible success of his album, feels a bit strange.
Lil Nas X had a few things to say on Twitter when nominations were announced.
“thank you bet awards. an outstanding zero nominations again. black excellence!” Nas says on a since-deleted tweet. Nas mentioned that it’s more than award nominations.
“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.”
Since deleting all tweets on the subject, Lil Nas X has since released “Late to the Party” on Soundcloud as a response to the incident. The song starts and ends with the chant “Fuck BET!”
Some of the lyrics pertaining to the BET Awards snub include, “Look at how I top shit bitch / I should put like three up in the top 10,” and “Don’t try me, ’cause bitch, I can’t be late to the party, yeah.”
Lil Nas X did what he does best and channeled his experience into his art.
Photo Courtesy of Lil Nas X
