Lil Nas X documentary premiere delayed by bomb threat

A bomb threat reportedly targeting Lil Nas X delayed the world premiere of the out rapper’s new tour documentary over the weekend.

Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero was set to premiere Saturday night at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). But according to Variety, as the film’s star arrived to walk the red carpet at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall, festival organizers informed his team of the threat. Lil Nas X’s arrival was delayed by 20 minutes while Toronto Police and TIFF security swept the venue. They found that the threat was not credible, and the screening took place at 10:30pm, about 30 minutes later than it was originally scheduled.

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“Earlier this evening, we were made aware by the Toronto Police Service of an investigation in the vicinity of the red carpet for the Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero screening,” a TIFF spokesperson said in a statement. “Our standard security measures remained in place during this time and the screening commenced with a slight delay. To our knowledge, this was a general threat and not directed at the film or the artist.”

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On Sunday, the Toronto Police Service released a statement providing more details.

“Yesterday, at the TIFF, a passerby uttered a threat towards private security,” Victor Kwong, Media Relations Officer for the Toronto Police Service, said. “Out of an abundance of caution, the Toronto Police and the private security swept the scene and cleared within 20 minutes. The threat was general and did not target any one person.”

But Variety reports that one source claimed that the threat specifically targeted Lil Nas X because he is a Black queer artist.

The rapper has faced homophobic backlash ever since coming out in 2019, shortly after his viral hit “Old Town Road” reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts. He has been targeted by fellow rappers with anti-LGBTQ+ memes, and he became a lightning rod for the Christian right after releasing the video for Montero (Call Me By Your Name), the lead single from his debut album, Montero. The 2021 video features Lil Nas X giving an actor dressed as Satan a lap dance.

In August of that year, Lil Nas X admitted that the anti-gay response to Montero had made him feel unsafe and that he had hired security for the first time.

According to the description of the film on the TIFF website, Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero follows the musician on his recent tour as he navigates the “growing responsibility that came with his meteoric success,” while also tracking his early life and rise to fame.

After security gave the premiere the OK to proceed on Saturday night, Lil Nas X appeared on the red carpet alongside his nephews and father.