China Anne McClain is facing backlash on social media for speaking out against demonic iconography in Hollywood in a new video, possibly still referring to Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” music video.
McClain recently released a TikTok video in which she spoke about how, in her view, the entertainment industry is peddling satanic imagery to an impressionable public. Her video seemingly includes a reference to the now-infamous music video, since Lil Nas X plays both a character who slides down a pole to Hell as well as the devil himself.
“It’s about influence. There’s a reason you see people dressed up as Satan. Full-on visual of Satan, people dressed as Satan, dressed as a demon, got upside-down crosses on your clothes or pentagrams on their clothes,” she said. “People think that this stuff is just a game. No, there’s a reason why the entertainment industry is doing that, y’all. They know good and doggone well that God exists. They also know that Satan exists. They’re just counting on the fact that y’all don’t know that.”
“But either way, the things that you take in, that they’re feeding you, those things affect you, whether you realize it in the moment or not,” she continued. “…I’m not going to sacrifice the honesty in order to be politically correct.”
People on Twitter called McClain out for what appeared to be hypocritical evangelizing, since, as some users pointed out, McClain became popular from the very industry she is speaking out against. Others wrote how they wished McClain were focusing on real issues in Hollywood, such as sexual abuse and other crimes.
Some Twitter users were also frustrated with people not realizing the goal of Lil Nas X’s video, which was to call out the hurtful and toxic language he grew up with as a gay Black child. As PopBuzz reports, when his video was new to the public earlier this year, Lil Nas X tweeted about the hypocrisy some people showed in their reactions to his video.
“yall love telling gay people we going to hell, then get mad when i decide to go?” he tweeted in March.
Exposing what? Instead of talking about the sex trafficking, pedophilia and abuse, she talking about symbols nobody gaf about lmaooo https://t.co/ntHiovsqsR
— Bishop Sycamore Guidance Counselor (@TheKruJue) September 1, 2021
One of the same industries that got her sitting in a mansion…………………… https://t.co/mlH28Eid68
— (@_nitaab) September 1, 2021
She said “I’m not gonna sacrifice the honesty in order to be political correct” POLITICAL CORRECT TO WHO??? THE DEVIL?? HES NOT EVEN REAL??? https://t.co/YkDW50uXkS
— big mama (@BigPussyMamaJr) September 1, 2021
Man I thought it was finna be some real tea https://t.co/5SFPK3D6b0 pic.twitter.com/jYLRVpKGcD
— earringdealer (@earringdealer1) September 1, 2021
This isn’t the first time McClain has talked about Lil Nas X’s music video. In March, she responded to Lil Nas X’s tweet, writing, “God is good. humans are imperfect. we should put a human’s wrongdoings on the doorstep they belong on.” She also released a video detailing her feelings about the video’s portrayal of the devil and the Christian religion.
“There’s a lot of confusion about the way God is represented by people versus who He actually is,” she said according to PopBuzz. “Comments like the one on top of Lil Nas’ video, they often turn into back and forth conversations about religion, Christians against the gay community or Christians against everyone else. When it’s not about Christian religion at all.”
“The truth is that God exists,” she continued. “I don’t believe in God because a religion tells me to. I know God. We have a relationship. So when God is represented badly by a Christian or by someone else that’s been hurt by a Christian, it really makes me sad because it’s not who he is. That behavior also dirves so many people away from getting to know Him. God is loving, He is compassionate, He is kind, He is forgiving.”
McClain’s religious awakening has been a process. In 2020, she revealed that the fourth and final season of Black Lightning would be her final one regardless of if the series continued. In a video posted to Instagram before she deleted it, McClain said that she knew she was finished with the series before the fourth season started shooting. She said she decided to leave after experiencing a spiritual awakening during the pandemic.
“There’s been a lot to happen over this quarantine, and I’m not talking about the PC side of it,” she said at the time. “God is moving in more than one way than just this show. It’s bigger than this show. I’m doing God’s work now…and I’m not doing anything else.”