Lil Nas X recently shared “Industry Baby,” and from the opening notes of the hype-inducing horn intro to Jack Harlow’s quotable guest verse, the song marks yet another creative home run for the Grammy winner. As with all recent X releases, however, the new track (and its Christian Breslauer-directed video) has also been met with a cacophony of homophobic conspiracists.
Among those engaged in the homophobia this time around is Boyce Watkins, an author and commentator who previously made headlines after sharing homophobic comments in response to the launch of the series Empire. In a tweet shared Sunday, Watkins said X “isn’t fighting for gay rights” and further amplified the homophobic argument that children simply watching a gay man make art is somehow unhealthy to them.
“He’s marketing the sexual irresponsibility that’s causing young men to die from AIDS,” Watkins, who’s also previously promoted anti-vaxxer ideas, said. “Being gay is one thing, but being a super spreader is another. There’s nothing healthy or helpful about that video. Especially for children.”
In response, X—who’s been tasked with dealing with a slew of similarly homophobic comments in reaction to his 2021 run of top-tier videos—noted the inherent hypocrisy of Watkins’ statement.
“Y’all be silent as hell when n***as dedicate their entire music catalogue to rapping about sleeping with multiple women,” he said, highlighting the overt discrepancies between how some treat those artists versus how they treat him.
“Y’all hate gay ppl and don’t hide it,” he added.
As coverage started to stack up surrounding his response to Watkins’ homophobic comments, X was quick to point out an example of how not to frame the larger story, as homophobia is not synonymous with mere “criticism.”
Below, see X’s response in full, as well as his statement from earlier on Sunday in response to a Twitter user who had also espoused homophobia in response to the “Industry Baby” drop.
