Is lil nas not gay anymore

He planned to hide his sexuality before his cowboy hit Old Town Road made him a superstar at Now the rapper is ready to embrace life as a queer figurehead. W hen Lil Nas X was growing up in the small, conservative community of Lithia Springs outside Atlanta, Georgia, he was sure of two things.

One: he wanted to be an entertainer. Two: he would never come out of the closet. Only one of those predictions proved to be true. As a teenager who blasted SoundCloud rappers in his headphones and spent all his free time scrolling through Twitter, Lil Nas X quickly learned that it was easier to blend in than risk being different.

He knew people who had come out at high school, and saw the pain, bullying and homophobia they experienced. He watched fashion shows on his smartphone, but never thought he would be brave or rich enough to wear such explicitly queer outfits. We meet two weeks before the California lockdown, and he digs into the plate of spicy fusilli in front of him, a quick lunch at a West Hollywood restaurant after the Guardian photoshoot and before his afternoon power nap.

Hesitant and shy at first, he becomes increasingly playful as our lunch goes on. Was that really his plan, I ask, never to be himself?

Lil Nas X Temporarily Decides He's Not Gay After Losing at the Grammys

He is simultaneously a Gen-Z success story, red carpet fixture, Billboard record holder and, perhaps most surprising to Lil Nas X himself, a queer figurehead. Just two years ago, he was a silly, meme-loving year-old who was still figuring it out. One day, while procrastinating over his course work, he wrote his first song.

Merely mentioning the song makes him cover his face in embarrassment, hiding his high-beam smile, and shaking his head. For better or worse, these questions will not stop any time soon. Nas had already amassed a 20K following on Twitter, with an account mainly known for memes and jokes.

When he posted the song there, his life would change dramatically. Old Town Road took off on the video-centric TikTok, soundtracking clips of teens shedding their suburban attire for cowboy hats and boots, and switching seamlessly between square dancing and hip hop moves.

It felt like the epitome of hypocrisy. Instead, he has grown into the rare kind of pop star who is able to appeal to multiple demographics. Kids love him for his tunes and fun dances as proven by a video of Nas visiting an elementary schoolwhere the pupils shriek in pure glee as they dance to Old Town Road.

It was after performing to a crowd of thousands at Glastonbury with Miley Cyrus last summer that, amid increasing speculation about his sexuality, Nas decided to come out, casually, in a tweet. He wore a neon-green suitcreated by the hip black designer Christopher John Is lil nas not gay anymore, paired with feminine leopard print gloves to the American Music Awards in November last year.

Two months later, he was at the Grammys in a leather, Barbie-pink Versace suitwith a harness and see-through mesh T-shirt. As the red carpet looks grew campier, the reactions became more extreme. They love to push this shit on our kids!! Nas credits his stylist, Hodo Musa who worked on the Guardian Weekend shootfor his increasingly eye-catching looks.

Especially in, like, middle school or high school. What about his own parents? Does he want that question? He tilts his head and thinks long and hard. Because what about the kids in my family? His family — which includes seven brothers and sisters — also remains behind the scenes.