Secular rapper Lil Nas X is claiming the sacrilegious artwork promoting his upcoming single, “J Christ,” is “not a mockery of Jesus,” despite being depicted on a crucifix as he’s being hoisted up.
The 24-year-old recording artist posted on social media that his new song “is dedicated to the man who had the greatest comeback of all time!”
After facing criticism for the inflammatory promo, Lil Nas X wrote on X, “The crazy thing is nowhere in the picture is a mockery of [J]esus.”
He continued, “Jesus’s image is used throughout history in people’s art all over the world. I’m not making fun of [expletive]. Y[‘]all just gotta stop trying to gate keep a religion that was here before any of us were even born.”
The release of “J Christ,” coming Friday, follows what he referred to as his impending “Christian era,” which he referenced in a post on X in November.
y’all mind if i enter my christian era ? pic.twitter.com/A6FHTK3MOE
— ✟ (@LilNasX) November 30, 2023
In 2021, Lil Nas X collaborated with the New York-based company MSCHF to release 666 pairs of “Satan shoes,” which contained drops of human blood in the soles.
Lil Nas X also promoted his forthcoming song with a joke that he applied to and was accepted by Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, where the singer quipped he would be completing a degree in Christian leadership and biblical studies.
Listen to them on the latest episode of “Quick Start” 👇
It was clearly a joke, given the “acceptance letter” he shared ended with a signature from Jerry Falwell, who died in 2007. Furthermore, his successor and eldest son, Jerry Falwell, Jr., left the university in 2020. The new president of Liberty is Dondi Costin, who was inaugurated in October of last year.
Falwell, Jr., responded to Lil Nas X’s post, writing that, although he’s aware the acceptance letter is a joke, he “wouldn’t have hesitated to sign that letter for you to enroll.”
“Don’t believe all the lies that have been told the last [three years],” he wrote. “No judgment at LU, only grace!”
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