Even with all that happened at the awards ceremony, one of the biggest controversies that surrounded the show this year was the complete lack of nominations for Lil Nas X. The “Montero” and “Industry Baby” hitmaker spoke out against the platform for not recognizing him, despite his smash Montero album and the previously mentioned singles making a huge splash last year. While this has been the most contentious interaction between the two parties thus far, the 23-year-old rapper spoke to Rolling Stone about how his relationship with BET has always been strained.
“My relationship with BET has been painful and strained for quite some time,” said Lil Nas X, before getting into how rude and skeptical BET personnel seemed to Nas. “It didn’t start with this year’s nominations like most people might think. 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.”
Bennett Raglin/Getty Images
Following that 2021 performance, during which he kissed one of his background dancers, BET released a statement saying that “no one cheered louder” for him. However, one of the members of Lil Nas X’s team had a much different experience, as they relayed to RS.
“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 f***** up.’ I think BET is doubling down on what they did wrong. Instead of saying, ‘We got it wrong,’ they said, ‘It’s [the voting] community and they don’t f*** with him,’ which is BS. All the accolades, the achievements Nas has had in his career, all the music people have consumed, the [voting] community doesn’t f*** with him? What are you talking about?”
Lil Nas X recently released a new single, “Late To Da Party,” with NBA YoungBoy as a diss to BET, and Jack Harlow wore a Lil Nas X shirt on the show’s red carpet to show solidarity with the singer. Since the public backlash first started, BET has said that they wish Lil Nas X the best in his career and will always support him. Whether or not you buy BET’s apology or think Lil Nas X is overreacting, stay tuned to HotNewHipHop for the latest updates on this saga.