Lil Nas X has quipped on Twitter that Saturday Night Live will probably end up "in hell" after the programme aired a segment to mock the rapper's recent clip, where he pretended to give the Devil a lap dance.
The singer's video "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)", where he was portrayed making some sexy moves around the lord of hell, was released at the same time Lil Nas X came under fire over his Satan-inspired sneakers.
The rapper collaborated with the brand MSCHF to customise Nike Air Max '97 kicks, decorating the shoes with an inscription of a biblical verse and adding red ink and a drop of human blood to their midsoles. The controversial venture landed the singer and the brand in hot water with religious pundits and Nike, who filed a federal trademark infringement lawsuit against the company and blocked the sales of the "satanic" shoes.
But SNL decided to take the singer's contentious joke even further by showing "Lil Nas X" giving a lap dance to "God" this time.
During the programme's latest episode, its parody "Oops, You Did It Again" talk show hosted by Chloe Fineman - impersonating US pop icon Britney Spears – highlighted the issue by giving a spotlight to the "social pariahs of the week".
Unsurprisingly, Lil Nas X, played by Chris Redd, was one of them. Speaking about the "Satan Shoes" scandal and the lawsuit, the "rapper" said he was not sure what Nike was "so mad" about:
"Their whole thing is just do it... well, I did it", Redd joked.
"People are afraid of me because I'm different", he went on. "But really I'm just your typical gay Black country rap sneaker entrepreneur".
When "Spears" asked the Lil Nas X impersonator whether he would be willing "to give a lap dance to God, just to even things out" he agreed – and then the awkward moment followed.
"Wow! Happy Easter everyone!", Fineman's Spears said in response.
The real rapper noted the moment on his Twitter to joke that SNL was "going to hell" with its segment. His followers seemed to agree, pointing out that the show's interpretation was really wild and even "worse" than the original clip.