Pound the alarm: Nicki Minaj has acknowledged her most famous stan. No, no, not Sia — someone who can actually keep his rappers straight, Lil Nas X. Minaj tweeted at Lil Nas on June 17, after he replied to one of her tweets the previous night to ask about a collab. “It was a bit of a sting when you denied being a barb, but I understand,†Minaj wrote. “Congratulations on building up your confidence to speak your truth.†(No word either way on the collab, sadly.) Staying true to form, Lil Nas X replied to Minaj with a crying Squidward photo, writing, “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.â€
Lil Nas X admitted to being a Barb in a tweet last month, after years of speculation related to a stan account he’d never addressed. In replies to other Barbs, Nas X clarified that he was worried that if people knew he was a stan, they’d think he was gay before he could come out on his terms. He came out as gay on the last day of Pride Month nearly a year ago, as “Old Town Road†was setting up to become the longest-running No. 1 hit. “People will assume if you had an entire fan page dedicated to nicki u are gay. and the rap/music industry ain’t exactly built or accepting of gay men yet,†Lil Nas X wrote to one fan. Aside from being a reminder that the world still has progress to make on accepting LGBTQ people, it’s also an indirect acknowledgment that Lil Nas X did run a Nicki Minaj fan page — perhaps a little stan account called @nasmaraj? No matter, there’s more important business now, namely getting Nicki and Lil Nas on the same song. That’d be the Pride Month Nicki collab we really deserve.