Lil Nas X makes out with his dancer in fiery BET Awards performance
Lil Nas X performs onstage at the BET Awards 2021 at Microsoft Theater on 27 June 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for BET)
Lil Nas X stole the BET Awards (and a kiss from a dancer) with his most epic “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” performance to date.
The Grammy winner wowed with an Egyptian-themed rendition of his hit single at the awards show on Sunday (27 June).
Paying homage to Michael Jackson’s 1991 “Remember the Time” music video, Lil Nas X danced in a pharaoh-inspired skirt and armour, surrounded by topless dancers.
Lil Nas X pushed his BET Awards performance to the next level, ending the song by wrapping his arm around one dancer while sharing a passionate kiss with another.
The commanding performance and searing exchange quickly went viral.
Legendary rapper Diddy commented on the iconic moment, advising others to “be fearless” like Lil Nas.
Lil Nas X’s fans heaped praises on the button-pushing moment on social media.
Of course, there were some naysayers.
One Twitter claimed that Lil Nas X’s performance disrespected African culture. However, the singer was having none of it.
He replied: “Y’all really like to pretend homosexuality didn’t exist in African culture.”
One fan joked that after Lil Nas X’s memorable appearance as a musical guest on SNL in May, during which he ripped his pants on live television, his solution was clearly to just go without pants entirely.
Nas addressed his now-viral wardrobe malfunction during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in May, and jokingly vowed in a tweet that he would “never trust pants again”.
Clearly, he’s following through on this promise, turning up to the BET Awards in a dramatic gown.
The dress, by designer Andrea Gross, had a powerful hidden meaning.
The designer told Berlin magazine Kaltbult that the 2019 collection from which the gown originated was designed to “bring light to the problems of the 21st century” , and to critique political and religious ideologies that “have led the populations for a long time in (the) wrong way.”
How did this story make you feel?
