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Lil Nas X film premiere delayed over bomb threat

Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on Saturday (9 September)

By Alastair James

Lil Nas X at TIFF
Lil Nas X at the Toronto International Film Festival (Image: X/@LilNasX)

The film premiere for LIl Nas X’s new documentary had to be temporarily delayed over the weekend due to a bomb threat.

Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero was due to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) on Saturday (9 September) at 10pm.

However, as per Variety, a bomb threat was called in. “The threat specifically targeted the rapper for being a Black queer artist,” the publication reported citing an anonymous source.

After 20 minutes, in which a sweep of the Roy Thomson Hall was conducted, Lil Nas X joined the film’s co-directors, Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel, and editor Andrew Morrow on the red carpet.

The film then started at 10:30pm.

“I’m going to do my best to make the ceiling unreachable to where we can go as Black queer people”

Lil Nas X has yet to comment on the bomb threat himself. After the film’s premiere, he posted footage of himself and his family on the red carpet. He captioned it “long live.”

While discussing the film in a Q&A, the ‘Panini’ singer also teased new music.

Asked about it Lil Nas X replied: “I want to drop this good ass fire ass music first. And then I want to back out there.”

He also said he had an interest in exploring folk and funk music in the future. He also revealed that “there’s maybe something that’s gonna happen,” when asked about directing a feature film.

Separately he told ET Canada that he was going to “f*** everybody up” with his next album as he said everybody thought he was “chilling right now.”

Speaking to Variety before the premiere, Lil Nas X said he hoped the film would inspire people.

“I’m going to do my best to make the ceiling unreachable to where we can go as Black queer people.

“And I mean unreachable as, like, it can go above and beyond. I feel like we live in a generation where Black queer people really control culture, and they’re helping really take the world to the next level.

“And I think that’s going to have an effect on our youth watching us.”

Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero follows the ‘MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)’ singer on his debut world tour of the same name.

As well as catching moments of the star on the road, it also delves into his personal life, his family relationships, and his identity as a queer person.