The ongoing problems between Lil Nas X and the BET Awards have reached a new level of disrespect.
The “Industry Baby” rapper released the cover art for his new single “Late to Da Party” and it features a BET Award in the toilet as Nas stands over it, seemingly urinating on the trophy. So yeah, he took it to peeing on their award.
This all started when BET announced the nominees for its annual award show honoring the biggest names in Black entertainment and culture, and Lil Nas X, who was honored by other major music awards, received no nods. It led to immediate cries of homophobia. In response to the snub, the Montero artist tweeted out new song “Late to Da Party,” which opens with the refrain “Fuck BET. Fuck BET.”
On Twitter, he made it clear his anger wasn’t necessarily over the award, writing, “this not over no bet award this is about the bigger problem of homophobia in the black community, y’all can sit and pretend all u want but imma risk it all for us.”
I’m 100 percent on your side, Nas, but putting the trophy in the toilet and peeing on it would indicate at least part of this is about the BET Awards. And that’s ok. When you’re clearly one of the biggest Black music artists of the year and you’re completely snubbed, you’re allowed to be angry.
For its part, BET released a statement explaining that it uses independent voters not affiliated with the network, writing in part, “Unfortunately, this year, he was not nominated by BET’s Voting Academy, which is comprised of an esteemed group of nearly 500 entertainment professionals in the fields of music, television, film, digital marketing, sports journalism, public relations, influencers, and creative arts. No one from BET serves as a member of the Voting Academy.”
The 2022 BET Awards are Sunday, June 26, so you know somewhere on the show there will be a response to all this controversy. I’m hoping it won’t be from host Taraji P. Henson, but I assume someone will get some jokes off at some point.