Mayor Pete Buttigieg joined Kevin Hart critics after the actor-comedian said that it did not matter that superstar singer Lil Nas X came out as gay.
During a discussion on HBO’s The Shop, one person asked why the singer came out as gay after his song “Old Town Road” became a smash hit.
“He said he was gay. So what?” Hart replied during the conversation.
When asked why he thought he needed to come out as gay, Lil Nas X replied, “It’s not that it’s like (I’m) being forced…. Knowing like, growing up… I’m growing up to hate this sh-t.”
“Hate what?” replied Hart.
“Homosexuality. Gay people,” Lil Nas X replied.
“Why?” Hart continued.
“C’mon now.. . if you’re really from the hood you’d know,” Lil Nas X replied, referring to the sense of homophobia in the black community.
Pete Buttigieg responded to the controversy on the Charlamagne tha God co-hosted radio show The Breakfast Club.
“I think it was the fact that he found it necessary to interrupt Lil Nas X and jump in and let everybody know that he doesn’t care,” Buttigieg said, explaining why Hart’s comments were offensive.
He said that gay people found it offensive when others went out of their way to say they did not care if they were gay.
“I will say that I think a lot of gay people hear that and hear something that might not be that different than what some folks here when they hear somebody say that I don’t see color,” he said.
Buttigieg praised Lil Nas X for coming out after his song shot up the charts, noting that it took a lot of courage. He criticized Hart for appearing disingenuous.
“I think when somebody finds it necessary to wave their arms up and down and jump up and down and tell you how much this isn’t a thing for them, it makes you wonder whether they are being honest with themselves,” he said.
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