Lil Nas X has certainly mastered the craft of generating a buzz, so it comes as no surprise that he would perform during one of the biggest nights in intercollegiate sports.
On Saturday (October 28), a video surfaced on Twitter featuring the silky-haired performer readying to hit the stage at ESPN’s College GameDay during a highly anticipated matchup between No. 13 Utah Utes and the No. 8 Oregon Ducks at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.
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Speaking of his connection to the Utah footballers, the “Old Town Road” star said: “I have family that went here, that goes here right now.” The Georgia native proceeded to unzip his jacket to unveil a custom Utah jersey (No. 28, which belongs to safety Sione Vaki), while the network displayed a throwback photo showing a younger Lil Nas X repping the same team.
Check out a snippet from his appearance below:
His appearance at the game served as a much-needed positive note (despite Utah’s ultimate defeat) for Lil Nas X, who just last month was the target of a bomb threat.
The threat, which occurred at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) — where he was slated to premiere his documentary Long Live Montero — was reportedly directed at the 24-year-old due to his Blackness and sexuality, specifically targeting him as a Black queer artist, a source close to the situation told Variety at the time.
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However, representatives for TIFF had a different take.
“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 spokesperson told Variety. “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.”
Appearing on the other side of the law, Lil Nas X found himself in a tricky predicament in the summer after Norwegian police stopped him in relation to an incident that caused a massive underground road disturbance.
As reported by Rolling Stone, the “Old Town Road” hitmaker was one of four Americans stopped by authorities in July for riding electric scooters along the Festning Tunnel — part of a giant underground road system known as the Opera Tunnel.
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Lil Nas X documented the close call on social media. “About to go to jail in Norway (fire emoji),” he wrote alongside a snap featuring himself donned in an orange hoodie, as he stood in the famous tunnel, via his Instagram Stories.
“nvm they fuck wit my music,” he added along with another image posing with authorities in front of a squad car, confirming he was officially in the clear.
