The musician shot back at comments Chappelle made about him in his latest Netflix comedy special, 'The Dreamer.'
It's been almost three years since Lil Nas X dropped his music video for "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)," and the musician is over people trying to bring back the controversy surrounding the visual.
This time, Dave Chappelle is the subject of the Montero artist's ire. In Chappelle's latest Netflix special, The Dreamer, the 50-year-old took a few jabs at the 24-year-old GRAMMY winner, claiming that he met the rapper at a party where he was "dressed like C-3PO" and made a music video in which he "suck[ed] the devil's d*ck at 10 o'clock on BET while all the kids are awake and can see me."
Recalling their alleged first meeting, Chappelle told his audience: "I met this n***a at a party. I had no idea who he was. But the minute he walked in that party, I knew I was in his dream. Everybody in the party was another dreamer. Everyone was famous. But when that n***a walked in, he was dressed like C-3PO. He was shining. And everyone was like, 'Oh my god, there he is. That's Lil Nas X!' I didn't know who he was."
Chappelle went on to claim that Lil Nas X told him he wanted him to be in one of his videos, which left the comedian confused. The moment reminded Chappelle of grade school and being asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, which led to him joking of how he imagined the artist would have responded in his own childhood.
"'What do you want to be when you grow up, Lil Nas X?' That n***a stood up in front of the whole class: 'I want to be the gayest n***a that ever lived,'" he jabbed. "I want to do a music video, slide down a stripper pole, all the way to the depths of hell, and suck the devil's d*ck at 10 o' clock on BET while all the kids are awake and can see me.' Shockingly, that was the only dream that worked out."
Lil Nas X -- whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill -- responded to Chappelle's comments on X (formerly known as Twitter), noting that it was a little late for the comedian to hop on the hate train, considering how long ago the video came out.
"Y'all gotta let call me by your name go, me and the devil broke up 3 years ago," he wrote in a post on Wednesday. "Y'all acting like children of divorce."
The video -- which was co-directed by Lil Nas X and Tanu Muino -- is filled with biblical and Ancient Greek references. In the video, the singer goes from lying in the Garden of Eden to being seduced by a humanoid serpent (also played by Lil Nas X). Their kiss results in him standing trial in a coliseum full of versions of himself, who execute him for his crime. He then slides down a stripper pole to Hell to seduce the devil, giving Satan a much-buzzed-about lap dance before snapping the Devil's neck to take on the role of king of the damned.
When the video was released in March 2021, Lil Nas X admitted that he expected some backlash when sharing a message to his 14-year-old self on social media.
"I wrote a song with our name in it. it's about a guy i met last summer," he wrote at the time. "I know we promised to never come out publicly, I know we promised to never be 'that' type of gay person, I know we promised to die with the secret, but this will open doors for many other queer people to simply exist."
"You see this is very scary for me, people will be angry, they will say I'm pushing an agenda. but the truth is, I am. the agenda to make people stay the f**k out of other people's lives and stop dictating who they should be. sending you love from the future. -lnx," he signed the note.
More recently, Lil Nas X has clearly moved on from the drama and is gearing up to kick off his new era after touring Australia at the start of last year. The entertainer announced his new single and video will be unveiled next week, the promotional visual of which features an illustration of him dressed as a priest with the caption: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen."
The coming weeks will also see the debut of Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero, the documentary following the rapper over 60 days as he performs on his Long Live Montero tour, which supported Montero, his full-length 2021 debut album. In the diary film, Lil Nas X discusses his career and his place in the pop world as a Black and queer performer.
The documentary was directed by Zac Manuel and the Oscar-nominated Carlos López Estrada, who has also directed music videos for Billie Eilish, Katy Perry and Carly Rae Jepsen.
Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero will premiere on the HBO on Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. ET, and will also stream on Max.
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