Lil Nas X wrote a moving message to his younger self about coming out publicly as gay.
The rapper and singer, 21, shared the emotional note on Twitter, timed with the release of the music video for his latest single, “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name).” (Note: His tweet contains a vulgarity.)
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“dear 14 year old montero, i wrote a song with our name in it. it’s about a guy i met last summer,” wrote the rapper, whose given name is Montero Lamar Hill. "i know we promised to never come out publicly, i know we promised to never be ‘that’ type of gay person, i know we promised to die with the secret, but this will open doors for many other queer people to simply exist.
“you see this is very scary for me, people will be angry, they will say i’m pushing an agenda,” he continued. “but the truth is, i am. the agenda to make people stay the f--- out of other people’s lives and stop dictating who they should be. sending you love from the future.”
The first few seconds of his new music video also contain a voice-over from the “Old Town Road” singer about self-acceptance.
“In life, we hide the parts of ourselves we don’t want the world to see,” he said in the video. “We lock them away. We tell them no. We banish them. But here, we don’t. Welcome to Montero.”
Lil Nas X came out as gay during Pride Month in June 2019, when he asked his Twitter followers to listen closely to the messages about embracing who he is in his song, “C7osure.”
“some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm no more. but before this month ends i want y’all to listen closely to c7osure,” he tweeted, along with rainbow and starry-eyed emoji.
After coming out, the two-time Grammy winner received some homophobic backlash from some fans of country and rap, genres that have not traditionally seen much LGBTQ representation.
However, he also received many messages of support from fans and fellow celebrities after coming out.
"Focus on all the good in your life. Don’t allow these fools (to) get to you,” Dwyane Wade commented on a now-deleted Instagram post from the rapper, as shared by NBC News. “It’s a lot of us out here proud of who and what you represent."
Rapper Nelly also supported Lil Nas X after he came out.
“I know he recently came forward with who he wants to be in life and who he is,” Nelly said in an interview with "People Now" in 2019. “I send out blessings to him for that and compliment him on his courage.”