Harris’ jacket sported the number 433,816 in red, which referenced “the number of people living with HIV in the U.S. The performance included a dose of AIDS awareness, as he was joined onstage by Mardrequs Harris of the Southern AIDS Coalition.
For the finale, he delivered a short, sexy sample of Montero clad in tiny sparkly neon pink shorts.
Dressed in full regalia, Lil Nas X led his dancers in a drumline onstage, stripped down to track pants, and marched into Montero State Prison. He performed a live debut of “Industry Baby” joined by collaborating rapper Jack Harlow. He picked up 3 wins at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, including the coveted Video of the Year award. Lil Nas X’s pop culture dominance is indisputable. And all of these things have conspired to make Lil Nas X a phenomenon that will be remembered for much more than phenomenal record sales. As followers and critics argue over the propriety of a lap dance for Satan, a butt naked prison shower scene, or a cisgender man’s pregnancy photoshoot, they engage in highly public dialogues on the rights of queer sexual and gender expression. His pithy clap backs expose the structural cracks of the most commonly used homophobic arguments and pinpoint the heterosexist double standards by which he is judged. He releases widely acclaimed work and homophobes, resentful of his mass appeal, attack as if driven by primal urge rather than clear reason. His videos and live performances display unambiguously queer Black sexiness before mainstream audiences. His releases shatter sales and streaming records. Read more stories from Insider's Digital Culture desk.Lil Nas X is a self-affirming Black gay millennial, a megastar still rising, and an impresario of social media. Kidz Bop and representatives for Lil Nas X did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment. While the song is no longer available on official Kidz Bop channels, aggregations of its lyrics show that it omitted lines such as "don't be a drag, just be a queen" and "no matter gay, straight, or bi / lesbian, transgendered life." As LGBTQ news site Queerty reported at the time, the 2011 Kidz Bop cover of Lady Gaga's 2011 single "Born This Way" removed LGBTQ lyrics. The organization has also removed explicitly LGBTQ content from other tracks. Its cover of Olivia Rodrigo's "Good 4 U," also on "Kidz Bop 2022," changed the lyric, "now you can be a better man for your brand new girl" to "now you can be a better one for your brand new girl." The Kidz Bop cover of "Truth Hurts" by Lizzo included changed lines, converting "boy problems" to "some problems," and "why men great" to "why you great." Other Kidz Bop songs have tweaked gendered language. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. "They degayified it," reads one comment with approximately 7800 likes on user video about the song. Other TikTok users have posted videos reacting to the Kidz Bop version of the song, and some in the comments have levied similar criticisms. Kidz Bop also removed "boy" from the lyrics in lines like, "You live in the dark, boy, I cannot pretend." It also tweaked the final line of the song's pre-chorus: "if Eve ain't in your garden, you know that you can" became "if you ain't in the garden, you know that you can" in the Kidz Bop version.Īs The Daily Dot reported, a TikTok video from the user noted that the cover also removed lyrics that make it apparent that the song was written and sung by a gay man. The Kidz Bop cover of Lil Nas X's "Montero," which was released on October 22 as part of the compilation album "Kidz Bop 2022," included changed lyrics like "cocaine and drinking with your friends" to "singin' and dancin' with your friends," and "I wanna feel on yo' ass in Hawaii" to "I wanna lie on the beach in Hawaii." Kidz Bop is a children's music brand that repackages pop tracks for a young audience, typically censoring mentions of adult themes in covers that are performed by children. Kidz Bop covered Lil Nas X's "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)," the single that sparked a culture war over the song's queerness and satanic imagery, but censored all mentions of sex, drugs, and gay attraction.
Lil Nas X has commented on the track, reposting its lyrics and saying the performers "killed it." The Kidz Bop version of the song removes references to sex, drugs, and queerness. Children's music brand Kidz Bop released a cover of Lil Nas X's "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)."