Lil Nas X Teases New Song While Calling Out BET Awards Snub

Lil Nas X just gave fans a preview of his new song — and called out the BET Awards for his lack of nominations in the process.

The “Panini” singer posted a video of him shirtless singing along in his car to a new collab with NBA YoungBoy, “Late to Da Party,” on Tuesday. The song already feels like a bop, but the real attention-getter was the opening, in which Lil Nas just repeats “Fuck BET” over and over again.

The bold call out is in reference to the fact that, despite being nominated for five Grammys this year for his album Montero, the rapper received zero nominations whatsoever for this year’s BET Awards, which were announced last week.

The snub had previously caused Lil Nas to tweet and delete his frustrations, rightfully noting that he had “3 of the biggest songs of last year & a critically acclaimed album,” before sharing concern that the oversight had some tinges of homophobia.

“Doesn’t even have to be me nominated,” he wrote. “i just feel like black gay ppl have to fight to be seen in this world and even when we make it to the top mfs try to pretend we are invisible.”

Despite deleting those tweets, something not uncommon for his social media presence, it’s obvious that Lil Nas is still feeling the same way. In subsequent tweets, he suggested that queer men get less respect when they veer outside of “manly” stereotypes, and expressed frustration with homophobia within the Black community in particular.

BET ultimately responded with a statement saying that no BET employees make up their Voting Academy for the awards, and that they are “passionate advocates for the wonderful diversity that exists within our community.”

Considering Lil Nas was ultimately trying to make a point about something bigger than just BET as a network or as an awards show, not being nominated by the 500 entertainment professionals making up the voting board doesn’t seem like any consolation.