Not that Lil Nas X would ever do anything outrageous for the sake of publicity, but the "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" and "Old Town Road" rapper has popped out some photos of himself with an apparent bun in the oven, via People.
The bundle of joy in question is his new album, "Montero" (his birth name is Montero Lamar Hill), dropping Sept. 17. The People story quotes the rapper as tracing the genesis of the faux maternity images to an exchange with his stylist: "'Yeah, this is my baby, huh?' As a joke, she was like, 'Yeah, you should do a pregnancy shoot.'"
There's also continued resonance from his recent lampooning of the cover art of Drake's new album, "Certified Lover Boy" (releasing Friday), which features emojis of 12 different pregnant women (art designed by Damien Hurst). Lil Nas X posted his own version of that image, but with emojis of 12 pregnant men, to promote "Montero."
He followed the People photos with a tweeted "sonogram" showing the album cover art inside a womb.
Online reactions have been predictable.
Twitter user @thealec wrote, "this is not amusing, it's embarrassing"; @selsepiphany said, "this is why i'm h0m0ph0bic"; @MaskiQueen opined, ".... as woman don't appreciate this Nothing against being gay but this gone too far"; and @ill_ra declared, "This ain't the wave. They got women who can't celebrate pregnancy das infertile n s— n dude doing this."
However, some stepped up to defend the rapper. @GFLR_world tweeted, "stop stressing him he's pregnant and could lose his baby!" and "if he thinks that this is a good way of promoting his album then he's right because I'M LOVING THIS"
Others claimed to be the father, while @DolanDark pointed out this would make a "Lil lil nas x."
One fan, @LeoStc_, screenshotting his earlier response to Lil Nas X's February promise of "big announcement soon" (@LeoStc: "pregnancy?"), added, "OMG I WAS RIGHT."
Among a sea of haters telling the world how unimpressed they were by tweeting variations of "nobody cares," one user (@iiPrimeLion) correctly predicted the mini-furor: They posted a screen grab of Bea Arthur yelling into a phone: "PLEASEEEE THEY'RE GONNA BE SO HEATED AT THIS"
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