Lil Nas X documentary premiere delayed by bomb threat

The premiere of Lil Nas X’s new documentary was reportedly delayed after a bomb threat.

According to AP, Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero was set to make its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, September 9. However, the event — which was slated to start at 10 p.m. — was apparently pushed back by about 20 minutes and the “Old Town Road” musician was kept off the red carpet until TIFF security determined the threat wasn’t credible.

“We were made aware by the Toronto Police Service of an investigation in the vicinity of the red carpet for the ‘Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero’ screening,” TIFF’s Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications, Judy Lung, told the outlet. “Our standard security measures remained in place during this time and the screening commenced with a slight delay.”

She added, “To our knowledge, this was a general threat and not directed at the film or the artist.”

A spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service also provided The Fader with the same comment issued to Variety, in which they said the threat came from a “passerby [who] uttered a threat towards private security,” before saying it was "general and did not target any one person.”

That said, a source who initially spoke to the trade publication claimed otherwise, saying the caller was targeting the rapper for being a Black queer artist. Several other sources also reportedly said it was a call as well, rather than a passing “utterance.”

Co-directed by Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel, Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero followed the hitmaker during an eight-month tour to promote his debut album, Montero. Prior to this, he was also the subject of a 2022 documentary called Lil Nas X: Unlikely Cowboy, which focused on his meteoric rise to fame.

On September 11, this post was updated to include a statement provided by the Toronto Police Service.