On the last day of June, the “Old Town Road” hitmaker revealed that he’s gay. He referenced his song “C7osure (You Like)” off his debut EP 7 as confirmation, saying that he thought he had already made it clear.
“some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm no more. but before this month ends i want y’all to listen closely to ‘c7osure,’” he tweeted, along with the rainbow emoji, a symbol of the LGBTQ community.
https://twitter.com/LilNasX/status/1145428812404068352
Later in the day, he posted the cover artwork for his eight-track EP, which finds him riding a horse in front of a rainbow skyline, which he zoomed into. “deadass thought i made it obvious,” he wrote.
deadass thought i made it obvious pic.twitter.com/HFCbVqBkLM
— ☆ ‧dreamboy··‧̩̥˟͙冬˟͙‧̩̥l (@LilNasX) June 30, 2019
i got the horses in the back pic.twitter.com/lfAechd6t2
— ☆ ‧dreamboy··‧̩̥˟͙冬˟͙‧̩̥l (@LilNasX) July 1, 2019
His decision to reveal his sexuality was reportedly inspired by his surprise performance of “Old Town Road” with Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus at the Glastonbury festival in England on Sunday (June 30). According to TMZ, he felt love from the 180,000 fans in attendance and was stunned by the reception.
Sources close to the 20-year-old rapper say Nas feels he can be a role model for other young people who are scared to come out, but he doesn’t want to necessarily become “the poster child for the LGBTQ community.” He believes this will not hurt his career and will give others inspiration.
When you've got more than horses in the back 👀@MileyCyrus just brought out @LilNasX and @billyraycyrus for the surprise #Glastonbury2019 moment we never knew we needed 🤠 pic.twitter.com/KmVBO0RuXk
— BBC Radio 1 (@BBCR1) June 30, 2019
After leaving the stage, he tweeted the declarations, without explicitly saying he’s gay. His tweets were met with an outpouring of support from fans, who vowed to protect him against those who may bully him because of his sexuality.
Boi-1da, who produced “C7osure,” was among the first to express support for his collaborator. “Go krazy lil bro we love you,” he tweeted.
Go krazy lil bro we love you @LilNasX https://t.co/TK5KA0ujao
— Boi-1da (@Boi1da) June 30, 2019