Lil Nas X issued an apology of sorts in response to the controversy surrounding his “J Christ” single on Monday (January 12). The Columbia Records artist expressed regret regarding the song’s rollout but swore he never intended to mock Jesus or Christianity.
“I wanted to not necessarily apologize, but I wanted to explain like where my head at and where it’s been for like the last week,” he said in a video. “So, first of all, when I did the artwork, I knew there would be some upset people or whatnot simply because religion is a very sensitive topic for a lot of people. But I also didn’t mean to mock. This wasn’t like a ‘F### you to you people, f### you to the Christians.’ It was not that. It was literally me saying, ‘Oh, I’m back like Jesus.’ That was the whole thing.” I’m not the first person to dress up as Jesus. I’m not the first rapper, I’m not the first artist and I won’t be the last.”
He continued, “I know given my history with the ‘Call Me by Your Name’ video, anything that I do related to religion can be seen as mockery. That just was not the case with this. And I will say though with the communion video, with me eating the crackers and juice, I thought that video was going to be the video to lighten the mood to take it down like less serious. I thought that was something we all wanted to do as kids and whatnot, but I didn’t understand the idea of the reality of what it is. It’s me eating the communion, which is the symbolism of Jesus’ blood and bones or something like that. I don’t remember completely. But I didn’t mean it as a cannibalism thing or whatever the freak. But I do apologize for that. I will say I am sorry for that. That was overboard.”
Lil Nas X admitted the backlash affected him. He extended an olive branch to his Christian fans as he hoped they would not view him as an enemy.
“This is not to try to get everybody on my good side or whatnot,” he said. “This is more so to clear my own head about my own decisions. I know I messed up really bad this time. And I can act unbothered all I want, but it’s definitely taking a mental toll on me … I know this is not going to be an immediate like swift everybody moves forward. But I do want my Christian fans to know that I am not against you. I was put on this earth to bring people closer together and promote love. That’s who I am. I’m not like some evil demon guy trying to destroy everybody’s values and stuff like that. That’s not me.”
Although Lil Nas X was apologetic, he defended his “J Christ” music video.
“With the video, there’s no disrespect there,” he said. “I thought me clearly not being on the side of the devil in the video was the—I don’t know, there was an understanding there that I’m like not trying to diss Christianity.”
Lil Nas X released his “J Christ” single and video on Friday (January 12). The song was the first release of his so-called “Christian era.”
