Lil Nas X has sent a message to critics of a pregnancy stunt he pulled to promote his upcoming album, telling them to stop using their children as "shields" for their homophobia.
The 'Old Town Road' rapper has received backlash for a series of photos depicting him with a pregnant belly, dubbing his forthcoming record Montero his "little bundle of joy".
Real Housewives of Atlanta star Peter Thomas was among those outraged by the concept - calling it "disturbing on so many levels" in an Instagram post.
"Whatever happened to what God wants, what God intended?" he asked. "I have two beautiful grandsons, if they asked, I wouldn't know what to say, SMFH (Shaking My F**king Head)."
Many of the comments on Thomas' post echoed his sentiments, with one Instagram user asking "sick as hell, ain't it?" while another wrote: "I said this is not cool for little boys."
Other people said the notion of a pregnant man was "scary" and "disrespectful to God".
Lil Nas X didn't name Thomas in his response, but did reference people referring to their children in their critiques of him, tweeting: "Stop using y'all lil booger nosed kids as shields, hate gay ppl with your chest."
"I'm up at 9am arguing with ppl on Twitter, can't find my prenatals, AND I'm getting cramps from this baby. This is not my day," he joked in another tweet.
The 'Industry Baby' hitmaker went on to say "nothing made him happier" than making "people that hate him, hate him more".
"It's my reason to breathe, my reason to exist, my first gift I open on Christmas, my hug from a loved one, my cold soda on a hot summer day, everything I've ever wanted, and everything I'll ever need," he tweeted.
Meanwhile, plenty of social media users have come to Lil Nas X's defence, offering Thomas some ideas as to 'what he should tell his grandsons' about the pregnancy photoshoot.
"Hopefully you would tell them that it's for entertainment purposes. Whomever you choose to love I will love y'all both. Freedom to be WHOMEVER THEY WANT IS WHAT YOU SHOULD TELL THEM?" one Instagram user replied.
"I'd tell them it's art and let people be and express themselves as they wish," said another.
"This photo, much like the 1994 movie Junior starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, is simply turning a well-known concept on its head for entertainment. We should meet this photo with the same sense of humour as that film. This is not a state of emergency," added a third.
One Instagram user told Thomas to "say the same thing you'd say when they asked you about some of the 'ungodly' content they'll see on the reality TV shows he was on".
