Lil Nas X has responded to the controversy surrounding his provocative new single artwork.
On Monday, the chart-topping singer announced his return to the music scene with his new single J Christ, which he said was “dedicated to the man who had the greatest comeback of all time”.
The news was accompanied by a shot of the single cover, which sees the Old Town Road star being hoisted up on a cross.
He also shared a short teaser of what looks to be the song’s music video, depicting him nailed to a cross which then turns into a Transformers-esque robot.
As you can imagine, this imagery has already sparked plenty of conversation online, which Lil Nas addressed himself responded to on Monday evening.
“The crazy thing is, nowhere in the picture is a mockery of Jesus,” he insisted on X (formerly Twitter). “Jesus’ image is used throughout history in people’s art all over the world. I’m not making fun of shit.
“Y’all just gotta stop trying to gatekeep a religion that was here before any of us were even born. STFU.”
He also reposted a number of fans’ messages defending him from criticism, with many pointing out that many other pop artists throughout history have used similar imagery:
Lil Nas previously generated a lot of conversation around his Montero (Call Me By Your Name) music video, in which is depicted pole-dancing to hell and performing a dance for a character intended to represent Satan, before ultimately killing him.
J Christ will be released on Friday 12 January.