Lil Nas X Sends Heartfelt Message to Queer Fans in Saudi Arabia Longing to Be ‘Free in Your Own Home’
With a rising tide of anti-LGBTQ sentiment making its way around the globe, Lil Nas X wants his fans to know that he is there to support them.
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On Wednesday night (April 12), the “Old Town Road” rapper retweeted a report from a fan account that said his song “Sun Goes Down” off of Montero had reached No. 1 on the iTunes charts in Saudi Arabia.
In his tweet, the rapper sent a message specifically to his LGBTQ fans in Saudi Arabia, hoping that the song’s message resonated with them. “to my gays [sic] fans from saudi arabia reading this, i hope this song is getting you through whatever you’re going through,” he wrote. “and i hope someday soon the laws against us change and you can be free in your own home.”
The song traces Lil Nas’ personal journey from experiencing suicidal thoughts at a young age to self-acceptance of his queerness later on in life, with many seeing it as a hopeful anthem to coming out. “I know that you want to cry/ But there’s much more to life than dying,” he sings on the final post-chorus. “Over your past mistakes/ And people who threw dirt on your name.”
The rapper’s tweet was specifically referring to the Middle Eastern country’s criminalization of queerness. According to Human Dignity Trust, a U.K.-based legal advocacy group working to challenge same-sex discrimination laws around the globe, Saudi Arabia criminalizes same-sex sexual activity as well as public gender expression for trans people, with “a maximum penalty of death.”
Lil Nas’ touching message comes a few weeks after the rapper received criticism online for a tweet asking “where do the gays be in africa” shortly after Uganda passed a historically broad anti-LGBTQ law.
See Lil Nas X’s sweet message to his LGBTQ fans in Saudi Arabia below:
Stephen Daw
Billboard
