Lil Nas X Documentary Premiere Delayed by Bomb Threat at TIFF

The world premiere of the new documentary Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero at the Toronto Film Festival on Saturday night was delayed when an anonymous bomb threat was called in moments before Lil Nas X arrived, Variety reports.

The "Old Town Road" hitmaker was specifically targeted for being a Black queer artist, according to one source. After security conducted a sweep of the venue and determined that the threat was not credible, Lil Nas X joined directors Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel on the red carpet; the screening began approximately 30 minutes late at 10:30 p.m.

"Earlier this evening, 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," a spokesperson for TIFF said. "Our standard security measures remained in place during this time and the screening commenced with a slight delay. To our knowledge, this was a general threat and not directed at the film or the artist."

In an interview ahead of the premiere of the film, which documents Lil Nas X's first tour, the pop star told Variety, "I know in my lifetime, while I'm here, I'm going to do my best to make the ceiling unreachable to where we can go as Black queer people. And I mean unreachable as, like, it can go above and beyond."

"I think what was really important was that Montero himself was so transparent in his identity and also his journey toward being the fullest version of his identity that he really wanted to be," co-director Zac Manuel added. "And I think sharing that journey with us and going on that journey with his family ended up really becoming the heart of the film."