Looks Like It's Lil Nas X Vs. BET

Lil Nas X is hitting out at BET, and he's not holding back. Following a lack of nominations for the awarding body's upcoming ceremony, the "Montero" rapper tweeted about his disappointment from being snubbed. A week later he has left us with a snippet containing a very important message: "Fuck BET."

BET announced their list of nominations last week for the ceremony slated for later this month. To be found is a string of names you'd expect: Drake, Kanye West, Summer Walker, Doja Cat, etc. However, despite having an exceptionally successful year in 2021, Lil Nas X's name could not be found on the list. This didn't sit well with the rapper, which he shared on on Twitter, citing homophobia as the reason for his exclusion.

“Thank you BET awards. An outstanding zero nominations again. Black excellence!” he posted last week in a since-deleted tweet. He followed with several other criticisms. Though many of those have also been deleted, this week, Lil Nas X had more to say. "This not over no BET award this is about the bigger problem of homophobia in the [B]lack community, y’all can sit and pretend all u want but imma risk it all for us," he said on Twitter.

Lil Nas X has received nods from the Black entertainment platform before—in 2020, he was nominated for Best New Artist, and received five other nods from the BET Hip Hop Awards in 2019 and 2021. However, the rapper's disappointment comes after his latest releases, including his hit track "Industry Baby" featuring Jack Harlow, failed to receive a nomination. The song is currently the second longest running rap song on the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart. (Number One? "Old Town Road," also by Lil Nas X.)

In recent performances and rollouts, the rapper has come to unapologetically flaunt his sexuality and to him, that may be the reason behind his newfound lack of nominations. “I feel like I’m definitely much more ‘out there’ with it,” he told CBS Sunday Morning back in January. “It’s always been, ‘OK, if you’re gay, this needs to be sanitized. Let’s not include anything sexual.’ It’s like, ‘Be gay without being gay. We don’t wanna know what happens behind closed doors, or we don’t want you to express that.’”

After fans had pointed out that other queer artists like Tyler the Creator and Frank Ocean have been nominated by BET plenty of times before, the rapper addressed this, tweeting that he loves "frank and tyler to death but can we admit queer men are more respected when they do less feminine things or am i making that up?"

After this, Lil Nas X posted a teaser of his new song featuring NBA Young Boy. A song that begins with the chant "Fuck BET, fuck BET, fuck BET."

Soon after, BET responded to the 23-year-old rapper's claims stating that they "love Lil Nas X."

“We proudly showcased his extraordinary talent and creativity on the show twice," the company said, "his BET Awards 2021 performance was a highlight of our show. No one cheered louder that night than BET."

"Unfortunately, this year, he was not nominated by BET’s Voting Academy, which is comprised of an esteemed group of nearly 500 entertainment professionals," they continued, "No one from BET serves as a member of the Voting Academy.”

Lil Nas X is yet to respond back to the company's statement.

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