Lil Nas X has often and vocally protested on being excluded from the BET Awards nominations; and his friend and collaborator on 'Industry Baby,' Jack Harlow made his own silent statement by wearing a Lil Nas t-shirt on the red carpet of BET Awards 2022 on Sunday.
At the time of this article's publication, it was not clear whether or not Harlow had commented on the carpet, but he has already been on the receiving end of substantial criticism for being a white rapper nominated for BET awards, so silent protest may have been the safest path, as per Variety.
Harlow's label secretly featured the photo on the red carpet, noting that Harlow's shoes and pants were Givenchy, but without mentioning Nas shirt.
In recent weeks, Nas has publicly slammed the BET Awards for not nominating him for this year's awards, as well as for "the bigger problem of homophobia in the Black community," as he wrote in a tweet earlier this month. However, the network has consistently emphasized that the awards are fan-voted and the network has no role to play.
As per Variety, on June 24, Nas released his latest single "Late to Da Party," which included a "F*** BET" chorus line and an album cover which shows him (presumably it's him) urinating on a BET Award in a toilet. Nas and members of his team told Rolling Stone that before the singer's BET performance last year, in which Nas made headlines kissing one of his male backup dancers, the network "was hesitant when booking Nas, asking for his team's confirmation that he wasn't a 'satanist or devil worshiper,' the rapper claims." They also reported that the performance, and the kiss specifically, left certain network producers upset.
"My relationship with BET has been painful and strained for quite some time. It didn't start with this year's nominations like most people might think. They did let me perform on their show last year, but only after [I gave] assurances that I was not a satanist or devil worshiper, and that my performance would be appropriate for their audience," Nas told in a statement.
A BET spokesperson in response said that the "summation of events around Lil Nas X's 2021 BET Awards performance is simply untrue."
"Since last year's performance, we have been in touch to work on other projects. We are still excited about his previous performances and continue to wish him well. But today, we are focused on culture's biggest night and delivering history-making moments for fans worldwide," the representative added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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