Lil Uzi Vert Updates Pronouns, But Here's Why People Are Frustrated
Lil Uzi Vert made a subtle Instagram bio change over the weekend, updating their pronouns to they/them.
The rapper has previously shown support to the queer community through wearing rainbow flag apparel at their shows, and has spoken about wearing women’s clothing over the years. So them finding an identity somewhere under the LGBTQ+ umbrella may not have come as a surprise to everyone.
But the pronoun change has prompted mixed responses, albeit not necessarily for the reasons one might think.
Some fans immediately expressed their support for Uzi, with one popular post even referring to them as “officially the best non binary rapper of all time” (although it’s important to note that not all people who use they/them pronouns automatically identify as non-binary).
Others have drawn attention to the rapper’s recent charge of felony assault against their ex-girlfriend, Brittany Byrd, while others threw it back to transphobic-sounding lyrics in their 2019 song “That’s a Rack” — “I was checkin’ my DMs, found out she was a man / I can’t DM, never, ever again.”
\u201clil uzi vert the first rapper to be non binary and transphobic\u201d
— violet (@violet) 1658024594
Lil Uzi isn’t the only hip-hop artist to open up about their LGBTQ+ identity recently.
Rapper Lil Wop, who came out as bisexual earlier this year, spoke to Say Cheese about his preferences for feminine men and trans women. “It’s whatever. It’s love… I want all the love,” he said.
His comments also took a left turn, however, when he made a point to clarify that he’s not “soft, sweet, or [any] of that shit.”
“I ain’t out here sucking no dick or getting fucked in the ass or no shit like that,” he explained. “I’m masculine, so I’m a motherfucking king.” Of course, none of these things are mutually exclusive.
Taylor Bennett, on the other hand, seems further along in his identity journey, recently chatting with People about headlining at NYC’s Youth Pride after coming out as bisexual five years earlier.
“Spaces like this, I didn’t have that as a kid, and if I felt more support as a child — and I also believe this for a lot of other folks that I know — we probably would be more content with who we are,” he said. “I think a lot of times it’s the outside opinion of others that I know, especially for me, kept me in the closet.”
Bennett added that the years since he publicly came out as bi “have been the best years of my life.”
“I’ve never been happier than now. I’ve never felt more confident in myself. I’ve never wanted to do more. I’ve never felt that I could do more. I’ve never felt more represented. And not just by myself, but by other people. So it feels good to be on the team you want to be on,” he said.
For their part, Lil Uzi Vert hasn't actually spoken up about the pronoun change in their Instagram bio just yet, but hopefully if they do, it will come alongside a reckoning with some of their past violence and transphobic lyrics.
