Montero Lamar Hill, a.k.a. Lil Nas X, is only a couple years or so younger than me, which means we grew up with the same icons guiding our every whimsy: the goddamn Wiggles. And the Wiggles must have left an equally favorable impression on the young Hill, because he’s been talking about the Wiggles for a while now. In 2020, he wanted them to feature on a remix, and last year he was “hoping” they’d co-headline his tour.
Well, it now seems like he might just get his wish. At the most recent Falls Festival in Australia, we got to see what happens when doves cry:
And see, here I was, assuming we would all collectively be so stoked about this. Like, girl. It’s Lil Nas X and The Wiggles. This is the best way to ring in the New Year, and we’re all better for it. And if they actually do make something happen and collaborate? Then this will already be a better year than last year.
Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), people are pearl-clutching. When I first saw this picture floating around my socials, I went to Google with the intention of seeing what the good word was. But instead, I got a whole lotta Christian Mom discourse about, you know, “the children.”
These moms are convinced (or they’ve convinced themselves for whatever godforsaken end) that Lil Nas X is a bona fide satanist—you know, because of a music video. This music video:
And yes, it’s lascivious, it’s showy, it’s all of those things, but it’s not like Nas’ art is unique in that sense. Are we still in Puritan New England where “The Devil” is still treated like a genuine problem? The comments certainly seem to indicate that some people are still content to subject themselves to that sort of Earthly hell. One wrote, “The Wiggles should remain a source of light not dark”—which, you know, lol. But many others started bringing “the children” into it.
Oh, this isn’t good for children. Oh, bad role model. Oh, oh. And this is the shit that ticks me off, because all this concern about Satan and “the children” is only skin-deep. What they’re really doing is subtly employing anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry under the safe guise of doing it for “the children.” They’d probably say nothing at all if the Wiggles were collaborating with someone who wasn’t queer and Black, even if the devil were still a motif. And I wish more people knew how this rhetoric works so it could get shut down immediately, because I’m worried other queer artists with similar styles are going to see these comments and be left feeling shameful and afraid.
But, thankfully for all of us, it seems Nas already crossed that bridge long ago:
Ultimately, these kinds of pearl-clutching detractors are partially why we, as queer creators, make such visually graphic media. It’s liberating. It frees us from the societal constraints that convinced us we had no futures. Music videos like Montero’s, films like Pink Flamingos, they exist as radical forms of expression in a world that would silence us. And we should be celebrating that, embracing the beauty of such things.
And the Wiggles are free agents, you guys! They weren’t forced into anything, they linked up with Nas because they like him and want to support him, as well as work with him. Nobody’s child is going to suffer from anything involved here. I really, truly guarantee you.
Truly, the only thing about this whole situation that would piss me off is if a collab ended up not happening. Get it together, babes. Let’s see what you got.
(featured image: Jaime Nogales/Medios y Media/Getty Images, and Don Arnold/WireImage)
