Lil Nas X calls out the double standard of Tony Hawk’s blood-infused skateboard

There’s a blood war happening in celebrity culture right now and it’s highlighting a massive double standard. In March, Lil Nas X came under fire by many conservatives for partnering with Nike to release a limited-edition line of Air Max 97s that contained a drop of human blood. The rapper, who is Black and openly gay, was heavily criticized for his Satan Shoes. Just this week, professional skateboarder and straight white man Tony Hawk released a limited-edition skateboard painted with his blood and sold out in minutes with little to no criticism. Lil Nas X noticed the vast difference in reactions to the two launches and is calling out those who previously criticized him and have been silent about Hawk’s new product.

Hawk recently partnered with Liquid Death Mountain Water and gave two vials of his blood, which have been mixed with paint used in 100 limited edition skateboards. The boards, which were priced at $500 each and came with a copy of a certificate authenticating the board, are advertised as being “infused with 100 percent real Tony Hawk.” Within an hour of becoming available, Liquid Death announced that the limited edition boards had sold out.

Early on August 25, Lil Nas X tweeted about the double standard, writing “Now that tony hawk has released skateboards with his blood painted on them, and there was no public outrage, are y’all ready to admit y’all were never actually upset over the blood in the shoes? and maybe u were mad for some other reason?”

Reactions to Lil Nas X pointing out the double standard have been mixed. While some of his fans agree that Hawk being a cis white man has more to do with his skateboard being deemed appropriate over a product promoted by a gay Black man, others pointed to the rapper’s use of Satanic imagery as the major differing factor. 

We’ll be over here waiting for a video of Tony Hawk wearing Lil Nas X’s shoes while on his blood skateboard. 

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