Anna Good
Rapper Lil Nas X was snubbed for the second year in a row by the BET Awards and took to Twitter on Wednesday to vent his frustration.
“Thank you, BET Awards. An outstanding zero nominations again,” he wrote in a tweet that has since been deleted. “Black excellence!”
The musician previously was nominated by the BET Awards once for Best New Artist in 2020, though he lost out on the award to Roddy Ricch. Given the critical acclaim for his 2021 debut album Montero, which won Video of the Year, Best Direction, and Best Visual Effects at the MTV Video Music Awards, Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards, and Favorite Music Video at the American Music Awards. The platinum album was nominated for a slew of other awards including five Grammy nominations.
One user questioned Lil Nas X, denigrating the music he’s put out with a homophobic jab, saying, “What you put out? And don’t use that gay shit as excuse. Don’t nobody care no more.”
Lil Nas X replied snarkily, telling the user, “IDK maybe 3 of the biggest songs of last year and a critically acclaimed album. I feel like that should’ve helped me a bit.”
The musician came out as gay in the summer of 2019, and has been very open about the struggles he and other members of the Black queer community face on a daily basis.
“I just feel like Black gay ppl have to fight to be seen in this world,” he posted, “and even when we make it to the top, mfs try to pretend we are invisible.”
Some users tried to argue that Lil Nas X wasn’t nominated because his music was a fusion of genres that lent itself more to pop, which the BET Awards didn’t have a category to nominate musicians for.
“No offense, but u are literally of caucasian persuasion and trying to school me on an award show I’ve watched my entire childhood,” Lil Nas X tweeted at one of the users. “It’s not the hip-hop awards + they have a pop category + ratio.”
Lil Nas X is kicking off his very first headlining tour, Long Live Montero, in September this year, starting in Detroit, MI on September 6 before making his way over to Europe for a couple of weeks in November.
The 2022 BET Awards will be broadcast live on June 26 from L.A.’s Microsoft Theater.
