'I'm Not Some Evil Demon Guy' - Lil Nas X Responds to Backlash over New Single

Lil Nas X took to social media with a video to tell those who felt offended by the provocative mix of sex and religious iconography in "J Christ," the single released last week, that he's "not some evil demon guy trying to destroy everybody's values.... That's not me."

Billboard noted that "the religious-themed artwork and music video for the controversial new single... includes the pop provocateur portraying Jesus Christ on the crucifix," which led to "commentators claiming that he was 'mocking' and 'disrespecting' Christianity."

But that wasn't the full extent of the rapper's sins, in the eyes of the faithful. "Specifically, Nas found himself in a firestorm of negative comments after uploading a TikTok in which he eats communion bread and drinks wine from a chalice while dressed as Jesus," Variey reported.

"I did not mean it as a cannibalism thing or whatever the freak," Nas X said in the video. "But I do apologize for that. I will say I'm sorry for that. That was overboard."

The "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)" singer noted that religious people might have been primed to view any religious metaphor by him as an attack, given that the video for "Montero" punctured the anti-gay fixation on LGBTQ+ people being destined for damnation.

But, Nas X said, he was approaching his depiction of communion more playfully. "[W]ith me eating the crackers and juice, I thought that video was going to lighten the mood to take it down less serious," the "Industry Baby" singer said. "I thought that was something we all wanted to do as kids, but I didn't understand the idea of the reality of what it is."

Nas X also discussed the art used for the single and its promotions. "When I did the artwork, I knew there would be some upset people simply because religion is a very sensitive topic for a lot of people. But I also didn't mean to mock," the artist added, before explaining the meaning of his artwork to those who missed its obvious message: "It was literally me saying I'm back like Jesus."

Nas X is a master of viral marketing, having promoted his debut album with a much-talked-about faux pregnancy portrait that played on the notion of the creative process being a kind of gestation that culminates in something akin to birth.

His mix of humor and boundary pushing has proven successful in the past, but The New York Times suggested that his brand of chasing virality may have met its expiration date.

"The vexatious 'J Christ' tries to reverse engineer that kind of success," the Times said, panning the video and the marketing around it for being "planned virality, mood-boarded and line-itemed."

"First, it is a concept – Lil Nas X is returning – and only then, a visual narrative and a song to animate it," the Times went on to say. "The result is stylish but not artistic, glossy but without shine, hyperstylized but lazy."

"Being the most clever pop star is much easier than being the most clever online comedian, and his tropes are wearing thin."

The Times dismissed "J Christ" as "a lumpy sequel" to "Montero," saying that the 2021 video was "comically baroque."

"In that playful and bizarre clip, he theatrically tussles with the temptations of new fame, culminating in giving a lap dance to Satan," the Times recounted. "It was refreshing, winking bacchanal – a whole idea."

By contrast, the Times admonished, the new video is "a string of micro-shock vignettes, many of them a callback to his greatest hits (of two years ago): the Satan Shoes containing a drop of blood, the stripper pole to hell from the 'Montero' video."

Nas X seemed to take critiques of the new single and its marketing to heart.

"Lil Nas X begins the four-minute video by addressing the artwork and viral marketing push leading up to the release of 'J CHRIST,'" Billboard detailed. "In one string of TikToks, he joked that he was releasing new gospel music independently. Another Instagram post saw him sharing a fake acceptance letter to Christian college Liberty University (university reps later said that they did not admit him for the fall 2024 semester)."

Variety noted that the new video contains references to the Old Testament as well as the New, with the video "finishing with Nas as Noah, building an ark and setting sail after the great flood, with the video ending on an end-of-part-one, to-be-continued note."

"He's expected to release a new album – the follow-up to his debut LP 'Montero' – soon."

That being the case – and if Nas X is sincerely repentant – the question becomes what new tack the always-jesting star might take to promote more singles, as well as the album itself. Will he manage some form of creative atonement, or continue to commit the sin of lacking originality?

Watch Nas X's apology below.