Lil Nas X Comes Out As a Barb, Apologizes to Nicki Minaj for Denying Her

Since the beginning of Lil Nas X's rise into superstardom with his hit song "Old Town Road," many Twitter users have speculated that the rapper was behind a now-defunct stan account, @nasmaraj, where he allegedly spent his days fangirling over rapper Nicki Minaj. X has cleverly avoided the topic when asked in interviews and by fans, but now we're one step closer to learning the truth!

X hasn't admitted that he was behind the page, but he has come clean about his love of Minaj. After he asked Minaj to collab on a song with him, a fan asked, "How come you never claimed her when people asked if you were a Barb?? We all knew who you were."

"I didn’t want people to know I was gay tbh," X replied. "The rap/music industry ain’t exactly built or accepting of gay men yet."

X came out last year during Pride Month, months after "Old Town Road" began dominating the charts and just before it became the longest-running #1 song of all time in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. 

Minaj, being the gracious queen that she is, forgave X for initially denying his standom. 

"It was a bit of a sting when you denied being a Barb, but I understand," she jokingly tweeted. "Congratulations on building up your confidence to speak your truth." 

In typical X fashion, the 21-year-old responded with a SpongeBob meme—and an apology. "The generous queen, I love u. And I’m sorry I did that in a time where u were already getting so much bandwagon hate. I felt so bad, hoping u wouldn’t see my denial. I was just so afraid of people finding out about me and losing everything before I even got a chance."