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Lil Nas X is voicing his opinion after receiving zero nominations at the 2022 BET Awards.
After BET revealed the nominations for its 2022 BET Awards last week, the Montero artist took to social media to call out the legendary for not receiving any nominations despite his album, Montero‘s monstrous success. Taking to Twitter, in a series of since-deleted tweets, the Grammy Award-winning artist expressed his frustrations over the lack of nominations with a tweet that read: “thank you bet awards. an outstanding zero nominations again. black excellence!”
After a commenter asked why Lil Nas X thought he deserved a nomination, the artist responded, “[I don’t know] maybe 3 of the biggest songs of last year & a critically acclaimed album… i feel like that should’ve helped me a bit.”
He later wrote, “i just feel like black gay ppl have to fight to be seen in this world, and even when we make it to the top [motherf**kers] try to pretend we are invisible.”
Despite deleting the tweets the following day, screenshots of the tweets went viral prompting everyone from fans to critics to weigh in–including Queen Latifah. TMZ caught up with the quadruple threat outside of the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ building in Los Angeles and asked for her opinion on the snub, to which the “UNITY” rapper showed her support for the controversial artist.
“Lil Nas X is amazing,” Queen Latifah told the site. “He should’ve been nominated. “I don’t know if [his sexuality played a part in the snub is] the case,” she said. “I don’t know what’s behind all that, but inclusion is always the key. That’s what we should be striving for. There’s enough room in this world for everybody.”
While Lil Nas X is calling out the network for exclusion, the awards show has recognized Nas in the past. In 2020, the BET Awards nominated him for Best New Artist, but he didn’t win. He also stole the spotlight at the 2021 BET Awards show by kissing his male dancers while performing his song, “Montero (Call Me by Your Name).” The kiss caused some viewers to complain to the Federal Communications Commission.
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