Lil Nas X has suggested that posting donation and petition links is a more productive way to raise awareness than sharing a black tile image on social media.
The artist tweeted on Tuesday 2 June that he was not convinced that the trend was helpful, and that he was also worried that it could cause the current wave of support for those protesting against racism to lose momentum.
The black tile post is intended as a means of expressing support in the wake of the death of George Floyd. However some, including Lil Nas X, have expressed concern that it could have an adverse effect.
“I know y’all mean well but... bro saying stop posting for a day is the worst idea ever,” Lil Nas X tweeted.
He added: “I just really think this is the time to push as hard as ever. I don’t think the movement has ever been this powerful. We don’t need to slow it down by posting nothing. We need to spread info and be as loud as ever.”
Musician Dillon Francis pointed out in response that some people have been posting black squares using the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, which has the negative effect to drown out important information for the movement.
Lil Nas X shared Francis’s message, adding: “This is not helping us. Bro who the hell thought of this?? Ppl need to see what’s going on.”
He then suggested other ways people could support the movement, writing: “Not tryna be announcing but what if we posted donation and petitions links on Instagram all at the same time instead of pitch-black images.”
People have urged social media users to use caution if they decide to participate in Blackout Tuesday.
Notably, participants have been asked not to use the #BLM and #BlackLivesMatter hashtags if they post black squares, and some have suggested people continue sharing information.
UPDATE (02.06.20) A previous version of this article’s headline incorrectly stated that Lil Nas X had stated that he deemed the Blackout Tuesday initiative to be “the worst idea ever”. This headline took his words out of context. As made clear in the article, Lil Nas X was criticising the decision of some social media users to post images of black squares on Instagram, rather than deciding to support the movement in other ways. We apologise for the error in our article’s headline.
