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Lil Nas X has responded to a follower on Twitter who asked him whether he was a top or bottom. The rapper responded, “Power bottom.”
Lil Nas X has a huge following on social media, and he’s been using it all week to comment on the reaction to his groundbreaking performance at the BET Awards on Sunday night when he kissed one of his dancers. Yesterday’s exchange began with him tweeting that given the comments generated by one kiss, next time he might go even further.
since y’all still doing all this over a kiss imma just fuck the nigga on stage next time
— nope 🏹 (@LilNasX) June 29, 2021
That tweet had over 334k likes at the time of writing. It prompted user @kevinabstract to ask Lil Nas X about his favored position. That elicited the “power bottom” response.
power bottom
— nope 🏹 (@LilNasX) June 29, 2021
Lil Nas X followed this up with a quote from the poet Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which he not so subtly altered, swapping the word “girls” for “bottoms”.
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We teach our bottoms to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to bottoms, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the top.
— nope 🏹 (@LilNasX) June 29, 2021
“We teach our bottoms to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to bottoms, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the top.”
Related: Lil Nas X kisses one of his male dancers on stage during BET Awards
Whether Lil Nas X was giving a straight answer or again being provocative is unclear. Some fans pointed out that on his track ‘Holiday’, he sang, “I might bottom on the low, but I top shit.”
In April, during an Instagram Q&A, he said he got asked this question a lot and suggested there was something misogynistic in dividing men into being tops or bottoms. Of course, ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ are also not the only options: Many men are versatile and many have no interest in anal sex.
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Lil Nas X anticipated his performance at the BET Awards would provoke some controversy, and has taken the time to respond to some of the criticism he has received. On Monday, he responded to a (since-deleted) tweet from someone saying, ““even the OG gays are sick of Lil Nas X’s s**t”.
Lil Nas X responded, “y’all hate yourselves so much. y’all live your lives trying your best to appease straight ppl. y’all are uncomfortable with what i do because y’all are afraid they will be uncomfortable with you. work on yourselves, i love who i am and whatever i decide to do. get there.”
He also reminded people what his song, ‘MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)’ is about.
we are 4 months in and people are still acting surprised that i am being gay and sexual in performances of a song about gay and sexual shit
— nope 🏹 (@LilNasX) June 28, 2021
Another Twitter critic tried to blast Lil Nas X as insecure, saying, “You’re so insecure about your sexuality you’re over compensating for it every chance you get. Gay people who know themselves don’t constantly have to remind eveyone that they are gay. Take a look at yourself on the mirror bro.”
Lil Nas X replied, “You’re right i am insecure about my sexuality. i still have a long way to go. i’ve never denied that. when you’re conditioned by society to hate yourself your entire life it takes a lot of unlearning. which is exactly why i do what i do.”
you’re right i am insecure about my sexuality. i still have a long way to go. i’ve never denied that. when you’re conditioned by society to hate yourself your entire life it takes a lot of unlearning. which is exactly why i do what i do. https://t.co/PtiehZdDGS
— nope 🏹 (@LilNasX) June 28, 2021
He later posted a tweet that many gay people might relate to, saying how nervous he had been about being so open about his sexuality in front of a room of mainly straight peers.
“It took me a lot of time to mentally prepare for this performance. while on stage i was trembling knowing that i was performing something like that in front of my straight peers. even during the performance i was having a hard time calming my nerves. thank you guys for the love.”
it took me a lot of time to mentally prepare for this performance. while on stage i was trembling knowing that i was performing something like that in front of my straight peers. even during the performance i was having a hard time calming my nerves. thank you guys for the love.
— nope 🏹 (@LilNasX) June 28, 2021
He posted a further thought that everyone would do well to remind themselves about daily.
“If you don’t push yourself outside of your comfort zone you will never grow.”
if you don’t push yourself outside of your comfort zone you will never grow https://t.co/pIURlxRbuG
— nope 🏹 (@LilNasX) June 28, 2021
Related: Up close with Yai Ariza, dancer who kissed Lil Nas X on stage
Donston
I mean, there’s no way he didn’t know that the kiss was going to spark “conversation”. That was very much the intention. But once again, I love how unapologetic and uncompromising his image is. Be as aggressively “gay” as possible. It’s needed. Some say he’s using “gay” as a gimmick. Well, no shit. And I’m perfectly fine with that. All these other top selling artists got their gimmicks. And this “gay/queer gimmick” wouldn’t work if there wasn’t a lack of male homo-eroticism/romanticism on pop culture, particularly black pop culture. Also, why are y’all still being basics and asking randoms on the internet if they’re a “top” or “bottom” Lil Nas X definitely knows how to troll and how to make basics look like dumb-asses on social media.
Inspector 57
Word.
Nas has said that his “cowboy” image was a gimmick, that the song was a blatant attempt to get attention and sales. But I get the feeling that his doing a lap dance with Satan, getting his neck licked, and doing a full lip-lock with another guy were sincere expressions of who he is and his way of saying, “I’m here. I’m queer. Get over it.”
Of course he’s gotten some blowback for how forward he’s been. But I am SO encouraged that the general public — and especially the Black community — have embraced him. I mean, the producers of both SNL and the BET Awards knew what they were getting into. And they went ahead with it, and he has been incredibly popular since those appearances.
I’m really grateful for Lil Nas X.
ingyaom
Loving this guy more and more.
PerhapsYesNoMaybe
Cool dude.
Kangol2
At 20-21, Lil Nas X is wiser than a good deal of the people sounding off on the internet. Nothing he said was wrong or unreasonable. And this needs to be internalized: “y’all live your lives trying your best to appease straight ppl. y’all are uncomfortable with what i do because y’all are afraid they will be uncomfortable with you.” The problem isn’t out LGBTQ people, it’s homophobia, transphobia, and anti-LGBTQ hatred and oppression. The people who rose up against cop harassment and brutality and the rampant homophobia of pre-1969 America weren’t fighting so that LGBTQ could be tolerated by straight people, but rather they were fighting for equality and freedom, in all senses of that word. Lil Nas X proves he gets that far more than many people twice or three times his age.
Donston
That is what’s so refreshing about Lil Nas X. There are other more “talented” out black queer artists. But most of them are rather careful. There’s no attempt to simply be tolerated or to make himself more palatable for “straights”. While he just seems to get it as far as maneuvering social media and shutting mess and messy people.
amanwithanedge
sometimes I simply don’t like this guy. He’s become an ego maniac.
Mack
WHY, because he’s honest and not hiding his feelings? Guess you’re still hiding in the closet or a troll.
Leash
i hope you can fix whatever is bothering you about yourself or your situation.
wiggie
When someone announces their coming out, half the responses are praise about them living their truth. He’s doing exactly that and it makes people uncomfortable. That’s their problem not his. Let this young black gay man live his life as openly and vividly as he wants. He’s inspiring some young gay boy to do exactly the same.
tjack47
He’s hot.
Fahd
I think he’s great- a definite step forward. And as for the great song and dance number, BET is exactly where it needed to be. Kudos to him, and I look forward to his career flourishing.
humble charlie
He’s great and full of juice and confidence, not afraid to tell the truth!
I hope he doesn’t devolve as he gets older and starts second-guessing himself.
Openminded
I’m proud for his strength to be him. I’m a firm believer that to ask that question just out of curiosity is in poor taste and should be considered off limits. If I had been him, my answer would have been “neither with you”. Of course he is definitely not me and he will probably be happier being who he is than I will ever be.
JB
He’s a hot genius! Go on with your best self, Sir Montero!