Lil Nas X Talks About His Decision to Come Out as Gay

“Old Town Road” rapper Lil Nas X blew fans away when he casually came out on the last day of Pride month, and now he’s talking about it beyond tweets.

He spoke to BBC Breakfast this morning, confirming that he did, in fact, reveal that he’s gay when he tweeted “deadass thought i made it obvious” alongside a couple screenshots of rainbows from his music video.

“It’s something I was considering never doing, ever,” he admitted in the interview. “Taking to the grave. But I don’t wanna just live my entire life — especially how I just got to where I’m at — just like, not doing what I wanna do.”

Lil Nas X also shared that he hopes he’s opening doors both for other artists to come out and for LGBTQ fans to feel comfortable with who they are.

But he also knows he may be fighting a bit of an uphill battle, noting that he’s already facing backlash from some people online.

“Especially within the country and hip-hop communities, which both songs combine, [being gay is] not really accepted in either.”

But he’s been taking it all in stride, trolling the homophobes right back when they give him a hard time.

And being chill about the haters is just what Lil Nas X says he plans to continue doing.

“Learning the internet over the past couple years… I used to be that person, being negative, so I’m not angry or anything, cuz I understand how they just want that reaction. But I’m just gonna joke back with them.”