The Satan Shoes
The modified Nike Air Max 97s with a drop of blood in the midsoles in collaboration with Lil Nas X are some of the most controversial shoes in history. Coming out after a new music video for “MONTERO,” Lil Nas seems to be going with a new satan/demon style.
April 13, 2021
Recently the rapper Lil Nas X came out with a shoe collaboration with Nike, but it didn’t go as planned. The shoe Nas came out with was something that featured the devil. The sneakers are customized versions of the Nike Air Max 97 sneakers that are said to contain one drop of human blood in the midsoles, and are printed with “Luke 10:18,” a biblical passage referring to Satan’s fall from heaven. Only 666 pairs, costing $1,018 each, were made.
After these shoes were released, the public had many opinions on them, mainly people bashing Lil Nas X for “hailing” Satan by creating these shoes. After this backlash Nike sued MSCHF, a small company over its sale of 666 pairs of altered Nike Air Max 97s as “Satan Shoes” in collaboration with the rapper Lil Nas X.
Many employers encourage employees to donate blood as an act of kindness but six people’s blood from MSCHF went into this shoe he created, the company is some sort of “edgy” brand that creates products like toaster-shaped bath bombs and rubber-chicken bongs, but now offered their blood for a new line of shoes. One of MSCHF’s founders, Daniel Greenberg, said in an email, when asked who collected the blood, Mr. Greenberg replied, “Uhhhhhh yeah haha not medical professionals we did it ourselves lol.” A drop of blood is mixed in with ink that fills an air bubble in the sneaker, a Nike Air Max 97, Mr. Greenberg said. Greenberg stated that Nike had no involvement with this part of the production.
Nike now knowing what went into the production of these decided to sue the company MSCHF not Lil Nas X. A federal judge sided with Nike ordering a Brooklyn company to temporarily stop further sales of “Satan Shoes” it produced. U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee in Brooklyn ruled three days after Nike sued MSCHF Product Studio, claiming that the black-and-red, devil-themed sneakers, which carry the Nike “swoosh” logo, infringed its trademarks. Lil Nas X posted a video to his official YouTube account titled “Lil Nas X Apologizes for Satan Shoe,” which has now been viewed over 1.8 million times.
