Lil Nas X Hits Back at 'Negative Energy' over His Pregnancy 'Announcement'

On Thursday, the musician shared photos of himself sporting a faux baby bump to promote his upcoming debut album, Montero

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Published on September 2, 2021 09:30 PM

Lil Nas X is clapping back at the hateful comments about his album pregnancy photoshoot — all while keeping his signature humor.

On Thursday, the musician, 22, took the internet by storm after sharing photos of himself sporting a faux baby bump meant to represent his upcoming debut album Montero, which he told PEOPLE has very much been like a "baby" to him. While many fans applauded him for his creativity, he also had to deal with some hostility.

In response to one Twitter user who wrote that they were tired of the singer and accused him of being ugly, Lil Nas X hilariously hit back, "you really on here calling a young mother to be ugly?"

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When another claimed that he goes from "one outlandish antic to the next" and that "you will never see a white, Asian, Hispanic or Arab equivalent to him in the entertainment industry" because they would not "tolerate" actions like this, the musician said, "one day y'all will learn i am not a representation of anyone but lil nas x."

After responding to several negative comments, Lil Nas X tweeted, "let me get offline, all of this negative energy is not good for the baby."

Lil Nas X took the time to retweet some messages of support from his fans, including one which called out comedian Donnell Rawlings for asking "How do I explain this to my son?"

"boys have been putting basketballs under their shirt to look pregnant since 1891," argued Twitter user @seven_twice. "Your son will be alright."

He also retweeted another fan's question: "Y'all don't get tired of writing think pieces every time Lil Nas X breathes?"

Another retweet came from a fan who brought up an episode of the early 2000s Nickelodeon series The Fairly OddParents that featured the male fairy, Cosmo, pregnant.

"Y'all mad at Lil Nas X but was watching this fairly odd parents episode," they wrote.

Lil Nas X (né Montero Lamar Hill) previously told PEOPLE that he came up with the idea to do the shoot after listening to Megan Thee Stallion's verse on his new song "Dolla Sign Slime" for the first time.

"I was like, 'Oh my God, this is amazing,' so I immediately called my stylist," he said. "She was like, 'Wow, this all comes together. Your album. Your baby.' I was like, 'Yeah, this is my baby, huh?' As a joke, she was like, 'Yeah, you should do a pregnancy shoot.'"

"I was like, 'You know what? That's actually brilliant,'" he continued. "So now we have this entire thing coming out, and it's going to be amazing."

Lil Nas X thought the timing of the photos coming out now couldn't have been better, as he just posted a spoof to Instagram on Monday of Drake's Certified Lover Boy cover art featuring several pregnant women emojis with the difference being that his features pregnant men.

"I was like, 'There's no way the universe is lining up this perfect for this to happen," he said with a laugh.

Montero — which is set for release on Sept. 17 — was largely created over the past year in lockdown. The creation of this new music, Lil Nas X said on Twitter last week, was "therapeutic."

"I've changed in so many ways," he told PEOPLE. "I've changed the way that I handle a lot of situations, the way I manage my sadness and anger and just understanding that I don't have to react to emotions in certain ways. I can't choose how I feel, but I can choose how to react. I've learned to let people's comments roll off my back."

Lil Nas X said he also learned through the creation of this album "to have full faith in myself."

"The only person that really has to believe in me is myself," he said. "It's been a lot of self-affirmations this year that I probably would not have been able to do two years ago."