Last weekend, Lil Nas X enjoyed one of the biggest moments of his young music career when he was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. One of the songs he performed was his hit “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” but that didn’t go without incident: While dancing, he ripped his pants. He later addressed the incident, writing on Twitter, “i know i do a lot of planned sh*t but ripping my pants on live television is not one of them.” Now, he has discussed the performance in greater depth, chatting with Jimmy Fallon (and guest host Dave Grohl) on The Tonight Show.
He broke down what was going through his head when it happened, saying:
“I was pretty much going down the pole, you know, doing my little sexy drop-down, and boom: I feel air. I was like, ‘OK, there’s definitely a breeze going on.’ And I also feel, like, some popping still happening while I was down there. I was like, ‘Oh god, I hope it’s not…’ I was like, ‘Just please don’t be on TV already,’ you know? And SNL is actually live, so… You know what the worst part is? At the end of the performance, the dancers are supposed to touch me and tug on me or whatever, and they were tugging on the pants, and I was like, ‘Please stop.’ […] I couldn’t say it because I would ruin the performance, like, ‘Guys, stop, please,’ but I couldn’t say it.”
Elsewhere during the interview, Fallon showed a clip of Lil Nas X’s dress rehearsal performance, so the world could see what the rapper’s choreography would have looked like had it not been thrown off course.
Check out the interview above.