Lil Nas X, DaBaby, and the Inherence of Homophobia - The Atlantic</tle><meta name="scriptn" ntent="Anti-gay bigotry is on the fensive hip-hop right now."/><meta property="kx:tle" ntent="Lil Nas X, DaBaby, and the Inherence of Homophobia - The Atlantic"/><meta property="kx:scriptn" ntent="Anti-gay bigotry is on the fensive hip-hop right now."/><lk rel="nonil" href="><lk rel="image_src" href="><meta name="thor" ntent="Spencer Kornhaber"/><lk rel="ia:markup_url" href="><meta property="article:publisher" ntent="><meta property="article:opn" ntent="false"/><meta property="article:ntent_tier" ntent="metered"/><meta property="article:tag" ntent="culture"/><meta property="article:sectn" ntent="Culture"/><meta property="article:published_time" ntent="2021-07-30T10:00:00Z"/><meta property="article:modified_time" ntent="2021-08-02T15:38:45Z"/><meta name="robots" ntent="x, follow, max-image-preview:large"/><meta property="og:tle" ntent="Lil Nas X, DaBaby, and the Inherence of Homophobia"/><meta property="og:scriptn" ntent="Anti-gay bigotry is on the fensive hip-hop right now."/><meta property="og:url" ntent="><meta property="og:type" ntent="article"/><meta property="og:image" ntent="><meta property="twter:rd" ntent="summary_large_image"/><lk rel="alternate" type="applitn/rss+xml" tle="The Atlantic" href="/feed/all/"/><lk rel="alternate" type="applitn/rss+xml" tle="Bt of The Atlantic" href="/feed/bt-of/"/><meta name="referrer" ntent="unsafe-url"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-pable" ntent="y"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-stat-bar-style" ntent="black"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-tle" ntent="The Atlantic"/><meta name="keywords" ntent="Lil Nas X, recent mic vio, rapper T.I., Lil Nas X. Of particular ncern, hip-hop, mic vio, Lil Nas X , young artist, gay fans, hateful rant, recent velopments, basketball player Nick Young, popular mic, morn Wtern ventn, looser sexual ethics, Lil Nas X’s trajectory, Old Town Road, rapper, classic false equivalence, sign of progrsThe DaBaby fallout highlights, 22-year-old hmaker, gnive dissonance, bounds of such progrs, part of that ttg, Lil Nas X’s Twter feed, straight rappers, hottt nam, adly crisis, big reason HIV, new mic vio, art turns viewers, prev generatns of queer stars, listenerMsage-lan art, Boosie’s rant, ments, Instagram ment, AIDS crisis, past weekend, lap danc, micro level, nu scene, fggot ass, AIDS, existence of lifavg dgs, people, DaBaby’s ments, Old Town Road’ transforms, gay superstar, pla dishonty of people, generatnal clash" emID="#keywords"/><meta name="news_keywords" ntent="Lil Nas X, recent mic vio, rapper T.I., Lil Nas X. Of particular ncern, hip-hop, mic vio, Lil Nas X , young artist, gay fans, hateful rant, recent velopments, basketball player Nick Young, popular mic, morn Wtern ventn, looser sexual ethics, Lil Nas X’s trajectory, Old Town Road, rapper, classic false equivalence, sign of progrsThe DaBaby fallout highlights, 22-year-old hmaker, gnive dissonance, bounds of such progrs, part of that ttg, Lil Nas X’s Twter feed, straight rappers, hottt nam, adly crisis, big reason HIV, new mic vio, art turns viewers, prev generatns of queer stars, listenerMsage-lan art, Boosie’s rant, ments, Instagram ment, AIDS crisis, past weekend, lap danc, micro level, nu scene, fggot ass, AIDS, existence of lifavg dgs, people, DaBaby’s ments, Old Town Road’ transforms, gay superstar, pla dishonty of people, generatnal clash"/><meta name="" ntent="culture,culture,mic"/><meta name="" ntent="Spencer Kornhaber"/><meta name="" ntent="2021-07-30T10:00:00Z"/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><script type="applitn/ld+json">{"@ntext":","@type":"NewsArticle","headle":"Lil Nas X, DaBaby, and the Inherence of Homophobia","alternativeHeadle":"Lil Nas X, DaBaby, and the Inherence of Homophobia","scriptn":"Anti-gay bigotry is on the fensive hip-hop right now.","url":","datePublished":"2021-07-30T10:00:00Z","dateModified":"2021-08-02T15:38:45Z","isAccsibleForFree":false,"hasPart":{"@type":"WebPageElement","isAccsibleForFree":false,"cssSelector":".article-ntent-body"},"publisher":{"@id":"},"maEntyOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"},"image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":720},"height":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":405},"url":"},{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":1080},"height":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":1080},"url":"},{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":1200},"height":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":900},"url":"},{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":1600},"height":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":900},"url":"},{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":960},"height":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":540},"url":"},{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":540},"height":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":540},"url":"}],"thor":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Spencer Kornhaber","sameAs":"}],"articleSectn":"Culture"}</script><lk rel="preload" as="image" href=" imageSrcSet=" 750w, 828w, 960w, 976w, 1952w" imageSiz="(m-width: 976px) 976px, 100vw"/><meta name="next-head-unt" ntent="61"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-g=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href="><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href="><noscript data-n-css=""></noscript><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/></head><body><div id="__next"><div data-tegory="story page"><div></div><nav class="Nav_root___6bX9" aria-labelledby="se-navigatn" data-tegory="Se Nav" data-event-module="se nav" id="ma-navigatn"><div class="Nav_maNav__yofcm"><a href="#ma-ntent" class="Nav_skipLk__Evjjd">Skip to ntent</a><h2 id="se-navigatn" class="Nav_visuallyHi__AbSDF">Se Navigatn</h2><div class="Nav_flexContaer__Q3LKQ"><ul class="Nav_leftContaer__cPQgJ"><li class="Nav_navListItem__cEyWT Nav_visuallyHiOnMobile__hxCGG"><a href=" class="Nav_navLk__5SUAA"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 87.83 134" class="Nav_bigA__XvGGC"><tle>The Atlantic

lil nas x not really gay

Rapper Lil Nas X wr a note to his 14-year-old self about g out as gay.

Contents:

LIL NAS X RPOND TO SOMEONE WHO SAID HE'S NOT "REALLY GAY" AND I CHOKED ON MY SP

After g out as gay durg the height of his "Old Town Road" succs, Lil Nas X is now revealg he actually don't love the fellas. * lil nas x not really gay *

But his latt clapback to someone who said he's not "really gay" serv s own trophy. A Twter troll rpond, sayg that they liked the snippet and that Lil Nas X was the "only gay person" they n rpect.

LIL NAS X TEMPORARILY DECIS HE'S NOT GAY AFTER LOSG AT THE GRAMMYS

Anti-gay bigotry is on the fensive hip-hop right now. * lil nas x not really gay *

Another er chimed , tweetg, "This man a't really gay, " and Lil Nas X had the bt rponse to show jt how wrong they were. In 2019, the 21-year-old me out as gay on the fal day of Pri Month a seri of tweets:.

The Geia native has ma history ever sce, beg the first openly gay black artist to w a Country Mic Award, and the first openly gay rap artist to be nomated top tegori at the Grammys:. I am now no longer gay!

WA … LIL NAS X IS NOT GAY?

His ment uld be a reference to the fact that he won two Grammy Awards for the song "Old Town Road" before he had publicly e out as gay. After g out as gay durg the height of his “Old Town Road” succs, Lil Nas X is now revealg he actually don’t love the fellas.

The “Pani” rapper reveal the prank on Twter statg that he claimed he was gay jt to have an epic April fools joke for today. I was never gay. He didn’t choose the gay life, the gay life chose him.

Ok i’m gay aga. Anti-gay bigotry is on the fensive hip-hop right superstar Lil Nas X, who me out as gay 2019, has been sparrg wh people who exprs many of the logil nsistenci that unrlie homophobia. On Instagram, DaBaby then ma thgs worse by explag that he had been tryg to show that his gay fans “got class, ” unlike the “nasty … junki on the street” who get AIDS.

LIL NAS X TRIED TO EXPLA WHY HE ME OUT AS GAY. THEN KEV HART TERPTED HIM

He sists, too, that he’s not homophobic.

But the reactns he’s kicked up, and some other recent velopments hip-hop, have outed bigots and unrled the gnive dissonance they live ’s speech did not mentn Lil Nas X, hip-hop’s new, openly gay superstar. The young artist me out as gay 2019 when his sgle “Old Town Road” was on s way to beg the longt-nng No. But Lil Nas X has clearly set out to tt the bounds of such progrs, and we’re now seeg the How ‘Old Town Road’ transforms the listenerMsage-lan art such as the “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” mic vio is part of that ttg: It playfully dramatiz the way that gay people have to wrtle wh beg told they’re damned to hell.

There, he spars wh people who exprs many of the logil nsistenci that unrlie homophobia. He’s playfully shot down the notns that queerns is a morn Wtern ventn; that he promot looser sexual ethics than straight rappers do; that he acts gay for fame; that prev generatns of queer stars have stayed closeted bee of tastefulns rather than bee of reprsn; that his art turns viewers away om heterosexualy; and that femy unrm male strength. Here was classic false equivalence: Gay gyratns onstage might annoy some viewers, but they’re different om pog the exact rhetoric that ntribut to the AIDS crisis (not to mentn to the problems of prsn and suici the queer muny).

THE SUBVERSIVE JOY OF LIL NAS X’S GAY POP STARDOM

Lil Nas X is gettg praise for how he handled a nversatn about homosexualy wh edian Kev Hart. Before the rapper uld rpond, Hart – who stepped down om hostg the Osrs 2018 after homophobic tweets he’d ma years earlier rurfaced – terjected. “He said he was gay, ” Hart said.

“Homosexualy, gay people, ” Lil Nas said.

Lil Nas posted a seri of tweets on the last day of Pri month, where he tend to share wh his followers that he intifi as gay. A seri of homophobic tweets Hart ma between 2009 and 2011 drew public scty late last year. But others were outraged by the gay, Grammy Award-wng pop star for offendg them wh the vio’s homoeroticism.

LIL NAS X OPENED UP ABOUT THE MICROAGGRSNS HE EXPERIENCED BEFORE COMG OUT AS GAY AND THE PRSURE HE’S FACED SCE

Homophobic backlash epted on social media – and didn’t stop there. In the same week, rapper DaBaby was rerd sultg gay men and sharg misrmatn about HIV durg a performance at the mic ftival Rollg Loud.

And Boosie were quick to make a nnectn to the artist and the “Indtry Baby” vio, wh Boosie gog as far to e homophobic slurs and threateng to “beat [Lil Nas X’s] a**. “There’s still that general sentiment that this type of rapper, a gay, male rapper, isn’t reprentative of masculy, ” Oware said. Lil Nas X is the first star of his kd – Black, gay, genre-bendg, Gen Z and award-wng.

)But last summer, the gay pop star found himself the middle of an ter storm.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* LIL NAS X NOT REALLY GAY

Lil Nas X Rponds To Tweet That He's Not Really Gay .

TOP