In case you missed it, “Old Town Road” rapper Lil Nas X made some pretty obvious hints about being gay on his Twitter late last week, and now he’s confirmed it in an appearance on BBC Breakfast. He’s also discussed the predictable backlash he’s since faced on social media, and how he hopes his public revelation will help others feel more accepted.
“How big of a deal is that?” he initially responds to the interviewer, going on to say: “It’s just something that I was considering just, like, never doing ever, just taking it to the grave or something.”
“But it was like, I don’t wanna just live my entire life, especially, you know, how I just got to where I’m at, just not doing what I want to do.”
The breakout, genre-crossing musician (and Dazed 100er) also talked about how he hopes his coming out will make it easier for others to do the same, saying: “And I’m also, I feel like, opening doors for more people...”
This can be seen as a particularly important stance for Lil Nas X to take, since he’s on the borderlines of two genres – hip hop and country – that are typically less accepting of LGBTQ+ issues, a point he acknowledges in the interview.
When asked about the backlash online to coming out and how it makes him feel, though, the rapper is surprisingly understanding. “Learning the internet over the past couple of years,” he says (he began his career tweetdecking, a process that involves manufacturing virality for cash), “I used to be that person being negative, so it’s like, I’m not angry or anything cause I understand how they just want that reaction. But I’m just gonna joke back with them, so.”
When the interview was done, Lil Nas X then made quite an exit, walking right across a live camera (and back again). He later tweeted: “lmfaooo i didn’t know.”