July has been an eventful month for rapper Lil Uzi Vert.
The hitmaker first made headlines this month when they accidentally injured a fan by throwing a phone off the stage in hopes of returning the item to its rightful owner. The 26-year-old rapper then started making headlines again over the weekend when they publicly updated their pronouns to they/them in their Instagram bio.
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The update happened in tandem with the Soundcloud release of "Space Cadet," a fresh track from the artist's upcoming LP P!nk.
Along with corresponding the pronoun update with the release of their new track, the shift is significant for another reason: it happened the same week as International Nonbinary People's Day, which was celebrated on July 14.
While many on social media have come out supporting the rapper, many in the LGBTQ+ community and other allies feel the pronoun change is ingenuine, with many critiques pointing to Uzi's history of violence and anti-LGBTQ+ comments they have made instead.
Earlier this year, Uzi was charged with one count of felony assault and one count of misdemeanor injury against their girlfriend Brittany Byrd, to which they pleaded no contest. Their song "That's a Rack" was also put under public scrutiny back in 2019 for featuring lines like, "Check my DM, found out she was a man / I can't DM ever ever again." Many fans found the lyrics to be transphobic.
Twitter user, @BastetHerring wrote: "No one cares that Lil uzi is [nonbinary]. Our issue is they are an abuser and is transphobic."
Another Twitter user, @soylattegrl, took the same stance when replying to a Tweet with the pronoun change headline saying, "Lil Uzi is a violent abuser of women so we don't care."
@pfizerchampion, took a stab at the rapper's fan base, writing: "[Lil Uzi] fans will put up with abuse but PRONOUNS ARE WHERE THEY DRAW THE LINE."
None— Recite Social (@Recite Social) 1658076078
The rapper has yet to make any official announcement about their pronoun change, nor have they replied to any of their critics.
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