In an interview with Jimmy Fallon on Monday night, Lil Nas X opened up about his SNL wardrobe malfunction, calling it “perfect timing.”
As theGrio previously reported, Lil Nas X made headlines on Saturday after his steamy performance on the finale of Saturday Night Live. While performing his hit song “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” the rapper split his pants while dancing and cheekily covered it up like a pro. In his recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Lil Nas X opened up about the experience, from the week leading up to the performance to the now-famous wardrobe malfunction.
Read More: Lil Nas X’s ‘SNL’ performance of ‘Montero’ ends in crotch wardrobe malfunction
While the rapper covered splitting his pants well, the rapper still was caught off guard by the wardrobe malfunction. He told Fallon in the interview, “So, I’m pretty much going down the pole, doing my little sexy drop down and boom, I feel air…I’m like ‘Okay, there’s definitely a breeze going on.’ And I also felt some popping still happening while I was down there.”
He continued, “So I was like, ‘Oh God, I hope it’s not…just please don’t be on TV already!’ And SNL is actually live!”
What made the situation even trickier, he shared, is that the dancers were supposed to tug on his clothes in the song’s final minute. He explained to Fallon, “You know what the worst part is? At the end of the performance, the dancers are supposed to touch me and tug on me and they were tugging on the pants. I was like, ‘Please God, no!'” Lil Nas X even explained he had to ask the crew at SNL for a towel to leave the stage and not flash the in-studio audience.
While unexpected, Fallon told Nas X that he covered it right on the beat with the song. Nas X concurred, saying, “It was perfect timing. If they would’ve ripped any other time during the performance, everything … over…If you listen closely you probably can hear the rip!”
He also opened up to Fallon about his challenging week leading up to the performance. After one of his dancers caught COVID-19, Nas X and his team had 24 hours to find new dancers to learn the routine before the performance. “It was really scary…we made it through the week though,” he shared.
Fallon also had footage from the dress rehearsal of SNL, in which Nas X did not split his pants. Airing the clip during the interview, fans learned that his next dance move was literally spinning on the pole. Nas X shared after the clip, “I want everyone who thought it was a publicity stunt to see that. It was not. I would never rip my pants in public on purpose.”
Relive the now viral moment from the Saturday Night Live finale, below:
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