Lil Nas X On Coming Out, The Public's Reaction, Dealing With Negativity

On Friday, "Old Town Road" singer Lil Nas X opened up about his personal decision to publicly acknowledge last week that he is gay. In a BBC interview, the musician discussed what prompted his choice to open up and what the reaction since has been like.

Lil Nas X, whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill, first nodded to his sexuality by instructing people to "listen closely" to the lyrics of his song "C7osure (You Like)" in a tweet on June 30, which can be seen below.

In a follow-up tweet, the "Panini" rapper highlighted the rainbow on the album art as another indication for his fans.

"I kind of revealed [it]... That I am gay," he said in the aforementioned interview regarding his tweets at the end of Pride Month.

"It's just something that, you know, I was considering just never doing, ever. Just taking it to the grave or something, but I don't wanna just live my entire life -- especially how I just got to where I'm at -- just not doing what I wanna do," he added.

"... Especially within the country and the hip-hop communities, which both songs combine, it's not really accepted in either," he said, adding that he hoped his decision to come out would open doors for other people so that they would "feel more comfortable."

The artist also divulged that he has already had to face some anti-gay backlash online, but that he has no intention of becoming angry due to the comments. "... I'm just going to joke back with them," he said, which has indeed seemed to become his tactic for handling any negative attention, as can be seen in his tweet from Tuesday.

A clip of the BBC interview can be viewed below.