Lil Nas X reveals why he refused to endorse Pete Buttigieg in the presidential race
Lil Nas X (Jerritt Clark/Getty) and Pete Buttigieg (Paras Griffin/Getty)
Lil Nas X has revealed that he refused to endorse Pete Buttigieg for the presidency because the candidate’s sexuality was not enough to warrant his backing.
In an interview with The Guardian, the “Old Town Road” hitmaker and gay icon in the making said he isn’t “too into politics”.
When he was asked if he would appear in a campaign video for Buttigieg last year, Lil Nas X refused, saying he doesn’t know Buttigieg’s “political history or motives”.
Lil Nas X didn’t want to endorse Pete Buttigieg for the presidency because he didn’t know enough about him.
“The only thing I know… Wasn’t he from the Democratic party?” Nas asked. When the interviewer confirmed that Buttigieg was seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency, Nas said: “See. All I know is he’s from the Democratic party and he’s gay.”
He continued: “So it’s like… I’ don’t want to base my support off, ‘Oh, you’re gay, I’m going to support you.’
“Yeah, you’re gay. But I don’t know everything you’re planning when you’re running the entire country,” he added.
“But yeah. That was the reason I said no.”
Lil Nas X went on to suggest that politics in the United States depresses him. He said he followed issues of police brutality and mass shootings as a teenager, but that the burden became too much to bear.
So it’s like… I’ don’t want to base my support off, ‘Oh, you’re gay, I’m going to support you.’
“It got hard to leave the house,” Nas said. “I guess ever since that, I’ve tried to stay away. Politics gets me very upset.”
However, Lil Nas X insisted that he will be voting in the presidential election due to take place in November. He said he hasn’t registered yet but plans to do so, and said he encourages his fans to vote.
In the same interview, the country rap star revealed that he planned to remain in the closet for the rest of his life before he achieved mainstream success.
He came out publicly as gay last year during Pride month after his song “Old Town Road” became a worldwide hit.
He said he planned to ‘die with the secret’ of being gay before he achieved mainstream success.
“The honest truth is, I planned to die with the secret. But that changed when I became Lil Nas X,” he said.
Lil Nas X was raised in a small town in Atlanta, Georgia, where he saw the pain and homophobia gay people experienced and was sure that he himself could never come out.
He said he would often watch fashion shows on his phone, but never thought he would be “brave or rich enough” to wear such explicitly queer outfits.
That all changed in a whirlwind year that culminated in six Grammy nominations, including best record for Old Town Road and best album for 2019’s 7.
“It was like the world was playing a prank on me,” he said, remembering that just two years ago he was sleeping on his sister’s floor and praying to be straight.
He revealed that he made the decision to come out after performing to a crowd of thousands at Glastonbury with Miley Cyrus last summer.
“There was nothing really holding me back any more,” Lil Nas said.
