Lil Nas X has apologised to the trans community after being accused of mocking them in a now-deleted tweet.
The rapper, whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill, admitted he initially ‘handled the situation with anger’ when his post was met with criticism.
Hill, who came out as gay in 2019, had tweeted a photo of influencer Glow Princess (Armanda Tounghui) to Twitter, joking that she was him after transitioning to female by saying: “The surgery was a success.”
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Many fans argued that the tweet was an example of a ‘gay cis male … making transitioning a punchline of a joke’, 23-year-old Hill hit back: “I’m literally just saying she looks like me y’all cannot be f**kin serious.”
When one person asked why he had to ‘mention surgery tho’, Hill hit said: “Because she has titties? Are u dense?”
However, after some time to reflect on how the joke landed in light of recent anti LGBTQIA+ legislation in the US - which President Joe Biden has described as ‘close to sinful’ - Hill decided to delete the post and apologize to his followers.
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He wrote: “Apologies to the trans community I def handled that situation with anger instead of considering why it was not cool. Such love to you guys. Sorry.”
Many people thanked the star for his 'willingness to admit' when he's wrong, with one commenting: "Honestly the joke is fine in my opinion, just really bad timing.
"Trans people are actively having our rights taken away, so for someone with such a large platform to make a joke about being trans right now when you’re not is just bad timing, good post though, just wait a year."
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But one wrote: "Baby, this apology ain’t it! You need to apologize too the trans community in material ways that include money, sharing your platform to raise awareness and just keep it! This is fake as hell!"
This proved to be a step too far for Hill, who simply responded in a quote-tweet: "Girl eat my a*s."
Earlier this week, President Biden spoke out against a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation in the US, with the American Civil Liberties Union currently tracking 409 anti-LGBTQ bills.
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Speaking to Kal Penn on The Daily Show, Biden said: “What’s going on in Florida is, as my mother would say, [is] close to sinful. It is just terrible what they are doing.
“It’s not like a kid wakes up one morning and says, ‘You know, I decided I want to become a man or I want to become a woman, or I want to change’.
“What are they thinking about here? They’re human beings. They love, they have feelings, they have inclinations that are… it just to me, is, I don’t know, it’s cruel.”
Biden resolved: “The way we do it is we make sure we pass legislation like we did with same-sex marriage. You mess with that you’re breaking the law and you’re going to be held accountable.”
Jess Hardiman