Lil Nas X has recently expressed how he feels about straight fans who are offended by him making queer music as a queer non-binary artist.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly published Tuesday, the "Old Town Road" rapper opened up about his prior concerns with "alienating" his straight fans before he released his homoerotic Satan-themed "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)" song, which immediately became a No. 1 hit on Billboard in April.
"At first I was really afraid of alienating any of my straight fans," he said. "But then it was kind of like, if they feel offended, they were never really here for me. They were here for whatever version of myself they made up in their head."
The 21-year-old is currently striving toward being the most authentic version of himself, meaning he doesn't feel the need to please everyone.
"Looking back on history, the biggest icons, the biggest artists, are the ones who aren't trying to always make everybody happy and who were doing themselves. I hope to do that at all times," he said. "At the end of the day, you are the main person that has to depend on you before anybody else. You have to love and nourish yourself."
The rapper added that he's fine with the parents, or conservative listeners who do continue to criticize him and his work, because it only brings more attention to his platform.
"But now it's like, okay, cool. For me, I would rather somebody hate the s--- out of me when they're talking about me rather than not say anything at all, because that's giving more power to my name," he said.
In a letter to his younger self in March, Lil Nas X wrote about why he decided to embrace his sexuality with his song, "Montero," saying it 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. but the truth is, i am," he wrote. "The agenda to make people stay the f--- out of other people's lives and stop dictating who they should be."
