On July 1 2019, country hip-hop musician Montero Lamar Hill — better known as Lil Nas X — published tweets subtly alluding to his sexual orientation:
Two hours [after tweeting about a UK appearance], the Atlanta-born [Lil Nas X] and arguably the new face of country music came out as a member of the LGBTQ community on Twitter.
“Some of y’all already know, some y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone FWM no more,” Lil Nas X tweeted. “But before this month ends I want y’all to listen closely to ‘c7osure.’ ” And in case it wasn’t clear that he was referring to his sexual identify, he added a rainbow emoji.
The same day, what looked like a music blog or news site called LFS Solutions published an item with the headline, “Lil Nas X Gets Dropped From Wrangler Endorsement After Coming Out The Closet.” That claim made reference to a partnership between Lil Nas X and the Wrangler denim brand:
Since he has announced that he is gay, his fans on twitter have been overwhelmingly supportive of him. Although Lil Nas X said in the above statement that he knew that he would possibly lose friends, he probably was not expecting to lose endorsements. The popular jean company, Wrangler has recently announced that they would no longer support Lil Nas X and that they would like to disassociate from the rapper. Here’s what Wrangler had to say:
“It has come to our attention that one of our celebrity brand ambassadors, Lil Nas X, has recently announced that he is gay. Although we love his songs and his character, as a company, our marketing team has decided that he is no longer fit to serve as a brand ambassador to Wrangler. We made this decision based on our strong Christian beliefs. We proudly serve God and it is in our best interest to not associate our brand with someone who disobeys the laws of the Lord. We wish Lil Nas X the best and we hope that he continues to support the brand which he loves so much.”
Despite its origin on an unrecognizable site, the claim found robust footing on social media. Clearly, many readers did not see text (in what may have been the smallest font possible) buried at the bottom of the page:
THE STORIES POSTED ON LFRSOLUTIONS.COM ARE FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. THE STORIES MAY MIMIC ARTICLES FOUND IN THE HEADLINES, BUT REST ASSURED THEY ARE PURELY SATIRICAL.
On Twitter, Wrangler responded to several users who mistook the Lil Nas X claim for real news: