There were raised eyebrows across TV land on Saturday when megastar, Lil Nas X, seemed a bit obsessed with holding his crotch during a performance of ‘Call Me By Your Name’ on Saturday Night Live.

During a super-sexy staging of the smash-hit song, the rapper made his way to a stripper pole at the back of the set and stood there with his hand on his crotch, for the rest of the song, while dancers gyrated against him.

Turns out, it wasn’t a choreographed decision – Lil Nas X’s pants had split during the routine, and he was trying not to make his performance go from sexy to x-rated.

During an interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Lil Nas X described the horror when he dropped during a dance move and suddenly felt air where he shouldn’t be feeling air. The host even zoomed on the video which captured the look on Nas’ face when he realised what had just happened.

But there was worse to come, as the rapper described – “at the end of the performance, the dancers are supposed to like, touch me and tug me or whatever, and they were tugging on the pants!”

“I couldn’t say it because it would ruin the performance – ‘hey guys, stop please’ – I couldn’t say it.”

After the performance, producers were still oblivious, trying to hurry the performer off the stage, leaving the embarrassed rapper to request a towel so he could leave the stage. Or else the audience would be getting a very different type of show.

Later in the interview, Jimmy Fallon showed the audience what they had been deprived of when he played a video of a dress rehearsal in which Lil Nas X gave an impressive pole dance originally planned for the song’s end.

Lil Nas X continued, “I want everyone who thought it was a publicity stunt to see that it was not. I would never rip my pants in public on purpose.”

After witnessing what the dance should have been pre-trouser split, Tonight Show co-host David Grohl said, “Now I can see why you didn’t finish!”