Despite the uproar they caused on social media, Lil Nas X’s Satan shoes reportedly sold out on Monday (March 29) in less than a minute. The controversial shoes — of which there were a limited 666 pairs — were first announced on Twitter over the weekend. The footwear saw a devilish design of the Nike Air Max 97 and included a pentagram pendant, bible verse Luke 10:18 and even a drop of human blood.
On Sunday (March 28), Nike released an official statement to clarify that the company was not involved with the limited edition shoes. The shoes, which were priced at $1,018 each; were instead a collaboration between Lil Nas and South Korean streetwear brand MSCHF in support of his new “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” music video.
“We do not have a relationship with Little Nas X or MSCHF,” Nike said. “Nike did not design or release these shoes and we do not endorse them.”
In the days following his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video, Lil Nas has been on the receiving end of both criticism and praise. The “Panini” artist issued a mock-apology about the shoes on Twitter and joked that he would sell a Chick-fil-A-themed shoe next to “even the score.”
“We are in a pandemic and y’all are going on day 5 of being mad at a gay ni**a who don’t do none but tweet all day,” he wrote.
One critic was Joyner Lucas, who acknowledged that “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” was “a formula guaranteed to work” but claimed the visual should have come with a disclaimer.
“That [Lil Nas X] video is wild but as a[n] artist he doing everything he supposed to do,” Lucas tweeted. “Creating viral moments, making people talk, & creating content he already knew you was going to react to. It’s a formula guaranteed to work. I doubt he actually worships the devil.”
“I think the biggest problem for me is the fact he don’t understand ‘Old Town Road’ is every kids anthem. Children love him for that record,” he continued. “They tuned in and subscribed to his channels. So with no disclaimer he just dropped some left field ish & all our kids seen it. Smh.”
Lil Nas responded to the criticism by reminding Lucas that his 2019 hit contained explicit themes as well.
“I literally sing about lean & adultery in old town road. u decided to let your child listen. blame yourself,” he wrote.