“Old Town Road” singer Lil Nas X released his long-teased single “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” on Mar. 26. The track’s title is in reference to the 2017 film Call Me By Your Name, which has become a cult classic in gay cinema, as well as Nas’s birthname, Montero. In June 2019, Nas shared on Twitter that he is gay and has since elaborated on his struggles with embracing this in terms of his public image.

“MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” represents a turning point in Nas’s career and life, one which he has been very vocal about. Nas shared a message to his socials titled “dear 14 year old montero.” 

“i know we promised to die with [this] secret, but this will open doors for many other queer people to simply exist,” Nas stated.

The song debuted at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with the music video and associated discourse trending since its release. The music video centers around religious imagery and symbolism, featuring Nas in a stylized Garden Of Eden, ascending to Heaven and later riding a stripper’s pole down to Hell to seduce Satan. Predictably, the provocative music video proved to be the perfect recipe to stir controversy and trigger backlash from the politically conservative.

“Rapper embraces Satan just in time for Holy Week,” read a Fox News chyron in just one of their segments covering the song. 

Figures such as Candace Owens, Katlyn Bennet, and Kristi Noem have all expressed their outrage at Nas. 

Owens shared her thoughts. “All you have to do is do something more provocative, more debasing, something more degenerate – if you can top this degeneracy… we might even give you a check.”

Defenders of the song have explained that the music video represents Nas embracing the hate he has received all his life and parodying it in his art. Many point out how the people telling him he will go to Hell are hypocritically upset when he actually did. This over-the-top music video, they argue, is meant to diminish the impact of religious shame that is imposed on queer people.

“i spent my entire teenage years hating myself because of the sh*t y’all preached would happen to me because i was gay. so i hope u are mad, stay mad, feel the same anger you teach us to have towards ourselves,” Nas tweeted.