Montero Lamar Hill, known by his stage name, Lil Nas X, was born in Lithia Springs, Georgia, a small city outside Atlanta, on April 9, 1999. His parents, Robert Stafford Sr. and Jacinda Barnes, divorced when he was six, and he settled in the Bankhead Courts housing project with his mother and grandmother. 

He rose to prominence with the release of his  country rap single “Old Town Road”, which first achieved viral popularity on the social media app TikTok in early 2019 before climbing music charts internationally and becoming diamond certified by November of that same year. 

Lil Nas X recently came out with his music video for his new song, “MONTERO ,” and was immediately met with backlash from conservatives. The youtube video to this song showcased theatrical re-enactments of biblical stories and a raunchy dance number consisting of Lil Nas X dancing with the devil. In this video, Lil Nas X makes a huge statement about his sexuality, embracing his identity as a gay man in a very tongue-in-cheek way. This video has garnered criticism from conservative politicians and commentators, who say the song encourages devil worshiping and scandalizes young fans.

The concept of “worshiping the devil,” of course, is only something from which people who believe in the existence of a “devil” can derive fear. Whenever a religion-minded argument pops up about an artist “worshiping the devil” convincing fans to do the same, the artist in question is typically using the fictional idea of Satan as a device that quite easily exposes the inherent hatred of a belief system that aims to traumatically convince children they, for example, could languish in “Hell” just because they’re gay.

Lil Nas X launched a controversial pair of “Satan Shoes” featuring a bronze pentagram, an inverted cross, and a drop of real human blood — and they sold out almost immediately. The musician vowed to give away a pair of his “Satan Shoes” to one of his Twitter followers, but he had to pull back from that promise. The sportswear company temporarily blocked Lil Nas X from selling his unauthorized “Satan” version of the Nike Air Max 97s. “Sorry guys I’m legally not allowed to give the 666th pair away anymore because of the crying nerds on the internet,” tweeted Lil Nas X on Thursday evening. Nike immediately took this to court which resulted in the judge subsequently blocking the shoes from being shipped to customers.

Lil Nas X and many other celebrities should not be taking advantage of their fame, Imaan Moten (9) states, “ I think that celebrities’ words/actions hold a lot of weight, if they aren’t considerate of what they release worldwide they shouldn’t hold the ability to do so.”