TORONTO — The world premiere of rapper Lil Nas X’s documentary was delayed Saturday night when a bomb threat targeting the artist was called in to the Toronto International Film Festival.
The 24-year-old “Old Town Road” singer, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, was in Toronto for the unveiling of “Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero,” Variety reported.
The screening of the film, scheduled for a 10 p.m. EDT start at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall, was delayed for about 20 minutes, according to The Associated Press. Lil Nas X had arrived at the venue to walk the red carpet, but had to wait, Variety reported.
Once authorities deemed the threat not credible, Lil Nas X joined documentary co-directors Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel on the red carpet at about 10:30 p.m. EDT, according to the entertainment news website.
“Our standard security measures remained in place during this time and the screening commenced with a slight delay,” Judy Lung, a spokesperson for TIFF, said in a statement. “To our knowledge, this was a general threat and not directed at the film or the artist.”
Victor Kwong, a spokesperson for the Toronto Police Department, told Entertainment Weekly in an email on Sunday that a passerby “uttered a threat” toward private security outside of the venue.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the Toronto Police and the private security swept the scene and cleared within 20 minutes,” Kwong wrote. “The threat was general and did not target any one person,” he said.
In an interview ahead of the documentary’s premiere, Lil Nas X told Variety about the impact he hopes the film will have on audiences.
“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,” he said. “And I mean unreachable as, like, it can go above and beyond.”
“Long Live Montero” documents Lil Nas X’s eight-month tour that began in September 2022 in support of his album debut, “Montero,” the AP reported.
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