Lil Nas X says his relationship with BET "painful" and "strained" even before this year's snub
The rapper says last year he had to convince BET he was "not a satanist or devil worshiper"
Grammy winner Lil Nas X has shared more details about the “painful” and “strained” relationship between him and BET. Lil Nas X says the saga between him and the network did not begin with his snub this year, but started last year ahead of his performance at the awards show.
“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,” he tells Rolling Stone. “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.”
Nas adds, “They say that ‘no one cheered louder’ for me than them that night, 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.”
An anonymous member of Lil Nas X’s team provided more details of the moments after the 2021 performance. “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,’” the anonymous team alleges.
However, in a statement to the publication, BET shoots down Lil Nas X’s claims, calling the “summation of events around Lil Nas X’s 2021 BET Awards performance simply untrue.”
“Since last year’s performance, we have been in touch to work on other projects,” a representative for the company says. “We are still excited about his previous performances and continue to wish him well. But today, we are focused on culture’s biggest night and delivering history-making moments for fans worldwide.”
In a previous statement the network also said it is “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.”
Following the BET Awards’ nomination announcement earlier this month, Lil Nas X tweeted, “Thank you BET awards. An outstanding zero nominations again. Black excellence.” He wrote that he wanted to address “the bigger problem of homophobia in the Black community.” Since then, the rapper has shared the song “Late To Da Party,” which boasts album art of someone urinating on a BET Award trophy.