Culture

Lil Nas X Has Mastered The Art Of Trolling Us

by Ky Stewart  12 January 2024
lil nas x jesus christ j christ new song

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Whether he is being sued by Nike for his human blood shoes or lap dancing for Satan, Lil Nas X is no stranger to trolling the internet. But as he’s been teasing a new “gospel” album and threatening to “expose” the music industry, it’s getting harder to discern what’s trolling and what’s real. 

The year is only a few weeks old, but Lil Nas X has already erupted on social media for a number of different reasons. Here’s a timeline:

January 3-5: Lil Nas X Teases New Era With Strong Religious Imagery

Things started to kick off when Lil Nas X hinted at a new era and music. He tweeted a photo of himself holding a prop machine gun wearing angel wings with the caption “i know it’s been 2 years but….yall ready for a show?” He then said that he was “about to have the greatest comeback of all time”. 

Turns out, we weren’t ready because Lil Nas X spent the next few days drip-feeding fans with more hints, teases, and first looks at his upcoming album. The strong religious imagery and themes aren’t new for him. Remember the devil lap dance? 

He then said that he’d be premiering his new music video in churches across different cities in the US. That’s one way to reach your target audience. 

January 6: Kesha But Also Maybe Not Kesha

In between constantly tweeting about his new God and Churches era, Lil Nas X also mentioned that his new song “features a very beloved popstar” who he’s been “a fan of for a long time”. Fans immediately started guessing who he was referring to. Pabllo Vittar, Britney, Ariana, and Gaga were some of the names thrown around. 

A day earlier, however, my queen Kesha posted a photo of herself walking with a sign saying “new music coming soon”. Then Lil Nas X posted a photo of himself holding a similar cardboard sign featuring “what she said” and the release date of his new single. For many (me) it was going to be the collab of a lifetime.  

January 6: Lil Nas X Says Music Industry Tried To Make Him “Satanic” And He’ll Expose Them, Kesha No Longer The Feature

While Kesha was hinting at collabs on Twitter, Lil Nas X took to TikTok to accuse the music industry of trying to “make me satanic” and that he was “returning to god”. (Ah yes, all those religious motifs are making sense now.) The TikTok seemed to shock a few fans who were trying to figure out if he was being serious. 

But judging by the comments, the Christians seemed pleased at his return to God after his love affair with Satan two years ago. If only they knew how much he was going to piss them off in the coming days. 

In another TikTok, Lil Nas X added that he needed to “watch my back” until he released his new song which he later confirmed would be gospel. 

Commenters wondered if Lil Nas X was just trolling them again to promote his upcoming single. He’s known for his sense of humour and not really giving a shit about what people think so it wouldn’t be a total shock. 

Using religion is a common trope among pop stars and done well, it can actually be quite beautiful and artistic especially as a comment on suppression (think Gaga and Madonna). However, I don’t know if threatening to “expose” the music industry is the best way to troll people. Kesha herself had an incredibly public lawsuit against alleged abusers in the music industry, so it’s not something that would work as a joke. 

Lil Nas X then said in a now-deleted tweet that his upcoming song was inspired by the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Kesha responded saying, “I’M. NOT. ON. this one…..”. Does that mean she’s not on anything at all or is she teasing that she’s on a different track? Kesha please, just tell us what’s going on. My brain hurts. 

January 7: Lil Nas X Says He Was Blackballed By Music Industry, Threatens To Expose “Y’all Favourite Artists”, Says He Is In Secluded Place

January 7 was a big day for Lil Nas X’s social media accounts. In three different TikToks, he wondered why a lot of celebrities “went quiet after I said I’m about to start exposing people”, said he was in a secluded place, that the media stopped supporting him when he started promoting “god to the masses”, and that he was “blackballed from releasing music”, which is why he is going independent. It’s hard to tell if the videos are serious but it’s probably safe to assume Lil Nas X is trolling us. 

The next day he was back on his favourite app and made another TikTok saying that he is under “24/7” police protection until he releases his song. Why? Because he is still claiming he will expose the music industry. He also said “evil will not stop what god has planned” and mentioned the date of his single drop. I think I remember reading that Bible verse in school. 

This one is obviously a troll video. I don’t think posting a TikTok saying you’re under police protection is how police protection works. 

January 9: Lil Nas X Announces New Single ‘J Christ’, Immediately Angers Christians; Kesha Is Back? 

After days of teasing, Lil Nas X finally announced the name and cover of his new single, ‘J CHRIST’. “MY NEW SINGLE IS DEDICATED TO THE MAN WHO HAD THE GREATEST COMEBACK OF ALL TIME,” the caption read. 

If you didn’t get that the title is meant to be for Jesus Christ himself, Lil Nas X clears up any confusion by showing himself being crucified on the cross. Ah yes, that old thing. 

Because the worst thing you can do as a person is pretend to be a man who died almost 2000 years ago, people were very upset with Lil Nas X.

This one confused me. What if Jesus did have a pedicure? We simply don’t know.  

Now this comment I can get behind. 

A gay Black man pretending to be Jesus… I can’t imagine why the conservative Christians would be upset. I wonder what the reaction would have been if he was a straight white man. 

Then, Kesha comes back into play, retweeting “OMG Kesha and Lil Nas X are collabing?” with a viral TikTok video. Kesha, this is your last chance to tell me whether or not I can expect my ears to be blessed with your presence on a Lil Nas X song. Stop playing with me. 

January 10: Lil Nas X Posts Fake Christian College Acceptance Letter 

On Instagram, Lil Nas X shared an acceptance letter to Liberty University, a Christian college in Virginia. He captioned the post, “I know some of yall hate me right now but i want yall to know im literally about to go to college for biblical studies in the fall. Not everything is a troll!” 

 

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A post shared by ★ (@lilnasx)

Turns out, everything is a troll because Liberty University shared a statement to TMZ, of all places, to say that the acceptance letter is fake, and that Lil Nas X never even applied. Just to keep up appearances the college said in the statement that they will “continue to pray for America”. How sweet of them. 

That’s not all though. Lil Nas X’s letter was allegedly signed by Jerry Falwell, the former president of the school. Jerry did in fact pass away back in 2007. 

January 11: Lil Nas X Commits Ultimate Sin: Pissing Off Gaga Gays

The gays can forgive a lot of things. Religious imagery? Who cares. Trolling? Go for it. Baiting us with Kesha? We’ll deal with that later. But one thing you cannot do is disrespect gay God herself, Lady Gaga. Lil Nas X was about to find that out the hard way. 

Somebody tweeted that they didn’t care if Lil Nas X was “disrespecting religion” but was annoyed at him taking inspiration from Lady Gaga, Madonna, and Nicki Minaj without credit. The user said the women had class, but Lil Nas X didn’t.  

Well didn’t that just stir the fucking pot because Lil Nas X replied, “the problem with a lot of yall gays is yall think im trying to be like gaga or madonna when in reality all due respect idgaf what they did and im doing what i want with my career.” Ouch! 

As I said, you can’t go around attacking Gaga and not expect hundreds of chronically online queer people to yell at you. 

Something rather disgusting, however, happened when Twitch streamer Kai Cenat went on a live tirade saying “Yo, Lil Nas X, you can eat my whole d—” stopping himself before he would presumably say “dick”. Insults aimed at queer people like these always confuse me because how are you going to try to put a gay man down by asking him to eat your dick? Just food for thought.

He didn’t stop there though. “I hate that n—a, bro …” he said. “God is going to handle you in the right way. I don’t even want to talk about that yet.” Charming. 

January 12: ‘J CHRIST’ Released, Not A Gospel Song, No One Exposed; Celebrity Impersonators At Premiere

The day has finally come and Lil Nas X’s ‘J CHRIST’ has officially been released. Shockingly, it’s not a gospel song and the lyrics expose literally no one. However, it is a fun bop. That’s all that matters, right? 

To further troll us all, the premiere of the song and video was attended by the same celebrity impersonators that are in the video. 

I’ll give it to him. This is a very good way to drum up press about your new single and music video. 

We’d be fools to think that’s all Lil Nas X had up his sleeve though. To announce that the music video is only an hour away he posted a video telling people to call and book their “dream vacation” in heaven. This made me cackle. It gives me evangelical ads from the ’80s and ’90s. 

Watch the music video below where he is a sexy Jesus and a sexy Satan. See people, you really can have it both ways. 

As for exposing the music industry, celebrities, and Kesha’s involvement, I guess we’ll just have to wait until the album is released. In the meantime, Lil Nas X continues to master the art of trolling everyone.

Ky is a proud Kamilaroi and Dharug person and writer at Junkee. Follow them on Instagram or on X.

Image credit: Getty