Lil Nas X came to social media at the top of the week for those who were disturbed by the rollout of his new "J Christ" single.
"Hello everybody," he began in the clip. "I wanted to... not necessarily apologize but I wanted to explain, like, where my head at and where it's been for like the last week."
"So first of all, when I did the artwork, I knew there would be some upset people or whatnot, simply 'cause religion's a very sensitive topic for a lot of people," Lil Nas X continued. "But I also didn't mean to mock. This wasn't like a 'Fuck you to you people,' 'Fuck you to the Christians.' It was not that, it was literally me saying I'm back like Jesus."
The Georgia-born artist then explained that he isn't the first rapper to use Jesus imagery and dress up like the religious icon, adding that he "won't be the last" to do so.
"And I know given my history with the 'Call Me By Your Name' video, anything that I do related to religion can be seen as mockery. That just was not the case with this," he said. "And I will say though with the communion video, with me eating the crackers and juice, I thought that video was going to be the video to lighten the mood. To take it down, less serious or whatnot. I thought that was something that we all wanted to do as kids or whatnot, but I didn't understand the idea of... the reality of what it is."
The 2-time Grammy Award-winner tried to break down the symbolism behind the communion wine and crackers but didn't "remember completely." He still insisted that he didn't "mean it as like a cannabilism thing or whatever the freak."
"But I do apologize for that, I will say I am sorry for that," he added.
“Though I don’t agree with all of Christianity’s rules or whatnot, I know not everybody follows Christianity by the book one hundred percent or the world would be a lot crazier,” he said. “But I do apologize for that. This is not to try to get everyone on my good side or whatnot, this is more so to clear my own head about my own decisions. I know I messed up really bad this time, and I can act unbothered all I want but it’s definitely taken a mental toll on me.”
Lil Nas X went on to directly speak to his Christian fans and said that he wasn't "against" them. "I was put on this Earth to, you know, bring people closer together and promote love. That's who I am, I'm not like some evil, demon guy trying to destroy everybody's values and stuff. That's not me."
The "Industry Baby" artist added that "no disrespect" was intended with the "J Christ" music video, and assumed that by not showing a devil figure, there would be an "understanding" that he wasn't trying to "diss Christianity."
He concluded, "Lastly, again, I hope sooner or later we can move forward and I'm excited for the rest of this era and things I have planned."
One influencer who was staunchly opposed to Lil Nas X's "J Christ" rollout was Kai Cenat, who cursed the artist out in a livestream last week.
"No, fuck that! Yo, Lil Nas X, you could eat my whole dick,” Cenat yelled. "I hate that n***a, bro. Now that’s just popping in my head, bro… Word to my mother, bro—God is going to handle you in the right way. I don’t even want to talk about that yet, bro. But, look—God is going to handle you, bro."
