It goes without saying that resident meme queen and pop sensation Lil Nas X lives to be incendiary (remember the Satanic Nikes?). Last week, the artist returned with his first new music since 2021's MONTERO, "J CHRIST" — accompanied by an archetypical Lil Nas X music video replete with CGI-generated biblical imagery.
That and the cover art for the song, which features the rapper being raised on the cross, are all pretty on-the-nose, sure, but hardly surprising from him. However, the backlash from the Christian community has "taken a mental toll" on Lil Nas X, who has posted a new video addressing his new material and the campaign behind it, including a TikTok promo that saw him taking shots of Communion wine and scarfing down Eucharist wafers.
"I wanted to not necessarily apologize, but I wanted to explain where my head's at and where it's been for the past week," he began. "First of all, when I did the artwork, I knew there would be some upset people or whatnot, simply because religion is a very sensitive topic for a lot of people. But I also didn't mean to mock. This wasn't a 'fuck you' to you people, 'fuck you to the Christians.' It was not that. It was literally me saying, 'Oh, I'm back like Jesus,' that was the whole thing."
Lil Nas X continued, "I'm not the first person to dress up as Jesus — I'm not the first rapper, I'm not the first artist, and I won't be the last," he continued. "And I know given my history, with the 'Call Me by Your Name' video, anything I do related to religion could be seen as mockery, and that was not the case with this."
He then issued an actual apology for the Communion TIkTok, as well as clarifying that he was just eating crackers and juice. "I thought that video was going to be the video to lighten the mood," Lil Nas X explained. "I thought that was something we all wanted to do as kids, but I didn't understand the reality of what it is. It's me eating the Communion, which is the symbolism of Jesus's blood and bones or something like that, I don't remember completely. I didn't mean it as a cannibalism thing or whatever the freak… I do apologize for that, I will say I am sorry for that.
"Though I don't agree with all of Christianity's rules or whatnot, I know not everybody follows Christianity by the book 100 percent, or the world would be a lot crazier," he added. "But I do apologize for that. This is not to try to get everyone on my good side or whatnot; this is moreso to clear my own head about my own decisions. I know I messed up really bad this time, and I can act unbothered all I want, but it's definitely taken a mental toll on me."
Watch the full video of Lil Nas X addressing the situation below.
That and the cover art for the song, which features the rapper being raised on the cross, are all pretty on-the-nose, sure, but hardly surprising from him. However, the backlash from the Christian community has "taken a mental toll" on Lil Nas X, who has posted a new video addressing his new material and the campaign behind it, including a TikTok promo that saw him taking shots of Communion wine and scarfing down Eucharist wafers.
"I wanted to not necessarily apologize, but I wanted to explain where my head's at and where it's been for the past week," he began. "First of all, when I did the artwork, I knew there would be some upset people or whatnot, simply because religion is a very sensitive topic for a lot of people. But I also didn't mean to mock. This wasn't a 'fuck you' to you people, 'fuck you to the Christians.' It was not that. It was literally me saying, 'Oh, I'm back like Jesus,' that was the whole thing."
Lil Nas X continued, "I'm not the first person to dress up as Jesus — I'm not the first rapper, I'm not the first artist, and I won't be the last," he continued. "And I know given my history, with the 'Call Me by Your Name' video, anything I do related to religion could be seen as mockery, and that was not the case with this."
He then issued an actual apology for the Communion TIkTok, as well as clarifying that he was just eating crackers and juice. "I thought that video was going to be the video to lighten the mood," Lil Nas X explained. "I thought that was something we all wanted to do as kids, but I didn't understand the reality of what it is. It's me eating the Communion, which is the symbolism of Jesus's blood and bones or something like that, I don't remember completely. I didn't mean it as a cannibalism thing or whatever the freak… I do apologize for that, I will say I am sorry for that.
"Though I don't agree with all of Christianity's rules or whatnot, I know not everybody follows Christianity by the book 100 percent, or the world would be a lot crazier," he added. "But I do apologize for that. This is not to try to get everyone on my good side or whatnot; this is moreso to clear my own head about my own decisions. I know I messed up really bad this time, and I can act unbothered all I want, but it's definitely taken a mental toll on me."
Watch the full video of Lil Nas X addressing the situation below.
@lilnasx wanted to get this off my chest
♬ original sound - lil nas x
