Source: Leon Bennett / Getty
Lil Nas X’s debut of his Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero documentary sadly didn’t go as planned.
The musician was set to show off the doc at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Saturday night, but the viewing was delayed because a bomb threat targeting him was called in.
It was scheduled to go down at 10 p.m. at Roy Thomson Hall, as X’s co-directors Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel were already making their way down the red carpets and engaging with fans. However, as X pulled up, organizers were informed of the threat, allegedly directed at Lil Nas X because he’s a Black queer artist.
TIFF security took the threat seriously and swept the venue for any signs of danger before safely allowing the event to continue.
According to Variety, the delay led to him showing up 20 minutes behind schedule, and the screening began late, at around 10:30 p.m., without a hitch.
TIFF later released a statement to Variety about the threat, adding that security assured there were no signs of wrongdoing on the premises and that the danger wasn’t personally connected to the Georgia artist.
“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. Our standard security measures remained in place during this time, and the screening commenced with a slight delay,” the statement read. “To our knowledge, this was a general threat and not directed at the film or the artist.”
The documentary illustrates the “Old Town Road” performer’s tour for his debut album Montero, and he hopes it allowed viewers to authentically see his process, outside of the hilarious portrayal he shares of himself on social media.
