Lil Nas X slams BET Awards after nomination snub; network clarifies stance

Rapper Lil Nas X recently slammed BET Awards after they skipped his name in this year's nomination list. The singer gave a sneak peek of a new song titled Late to Da Party in a video on Twitter and called out the "problem of homophobia in the Black community”. Through his latest track, the rapper tried to channel his frustration with the network after nomination snub. Following the singer's video, the network issued a statement justifying their move.

In the one-minute teaser of the song, the singer is seen sitting shirtless in a car with the song Late to Da Party blasting on his speakers in the background. “F***BET, f***BET,” the song starts, which goes on with the singer boasting about how he doesn’t need anyone to validate his success.

Following the teaser video, the singer then clarified that the song was 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.”

Lil Nas X slams BET Awards after nomination skip

The tensions between the rapper and the network triggered last week when nominations for the BET Awards were announced and the superstar’s name was nowhere to be found among the starry lineup that included Doja Cat, Ari Lennox, Drake, and Silk Sonic.

“Thank you BET awards. an outstanding zero nominations again. Black excellence! (sic)” his now-deleted tweeted read. 
In 2020, the rapper was nominated for best new artiste at the awards show and earned five other nods at the separate BET Hip Hop Awards in 2019 and 2021. Following the tiff, the BET network issued a statement justifying its stance. 

“We love Lil Nas X. He was nominated for a best new artist BET Award in 2020, and we proudly showcased his extraordinary talent and creativity on the show twice: he performed Old Town Road with Billy Ray Cyrus at BET Awards 2019, and his BET Awards 2021 performance was a highlight of our show. No one cheered louder that night than BET."

Continuing, they wrote, "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." 
 

IMAGE: Instagram/lilnasx