Over the weekend, Lil Nas X dropped a video for his new single “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” full of campy visuals that include the artist sliding down to hell on a stripper pole and giving Satan a lap dance before killing him and stealing his horns. To accompany the video, he teamed up with MSCHF to release a limited-edition line of devil-themed sneakers that come complete with pentagrams and a “1 drop of human blood.”
One person who is apparently not cool with the new Satanic shoes, however? Clemson’s star quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who — despite a concerted effort to remain apolitical when it come to maintaining his public persona — felt compelled to weigh in on social media.
“Line has to be drawn somewhere,” he tweeted. “Smh.”
Lawrence is hardly the only person to be offended by the shoes and their accompanying music video. Lil Nas X has spent the past few days clapping back at his detractors, who include everyone from Nick Young to South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, whose reaction to the sneakers was “We are in a fight for the soul of our nation.”
It is, however, notable that Lawrence is choosing now to weigh in. The college star is the presumptive no. 1 overall pick an NFL Draft that is less than a month away, and a scroll through Lawrence’s Twitter will tell you that he — like so many athletes before him — has no interest in courting controversy. Prior to his response the sneaker drop, his posts over the last six months consist almost entirely of football highlights, words of congratulation for teammates and a very telling retweet of a photo with the Clemson athletic department’s assistant communications director.
While Lil Nas X has not yet taken the time to address Lawrence’s comment, he has been active on Twitter over the last couple days addressing various other detractors, including Noem:
The latest controversy over the shoes, however, isn’t an ideological one so much as a business concern. Nike has filed a lawsuit against MSCHF, claiming the shoes — which include a design similar to the brand’s iconic “swoosh” — will “likely to cause confusion and dilution and create an erroneous association between MSCHF’s products and Nike,” adding that there’s “already evidence of significant confusion and dilution occurring in the marketplace, including calls to boycott Nike in response to the launch of MSCHF’s Satan Shoes based on the mistaken belief that Nike has authorized or approved this product.”
“As a direct and proximate result of MSCHF’s wrongful acts, Nike has suffered, continues to suffer, and/or is likely to suffer damage to its trademarks, business reputation, and goodwill that money cannot compensate,” the lawsuit reads. “Unless enjoined, MSCHF will continue to use Nike’s Asserted Marks and/or confusingly similar marks and will cause irreparable damage to Nike for which Nike has no adequate remedy at law.”
You can watch Lil Nas X’s video for “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” below.
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