Controversy
The shoe was controversial right from the start. Even before the website was available to their audience, the leak contained an information about the drop of a real human blood, the limited run of only 666 and the price tag of $1,018 USD. That’s a one expensive shoe right there, but the blood part is what makes others talk about it.
As you’d expect, it was widely discussed not only by the streetwear community, but also by whoever felt offended about satanic shoes or from other religious-themed reasons. The controversy in those communities was of course spiced up by the fact that Lil Nas X is gay. Another thing in question was the audience of the artist who are kids in a large part. There are no moms who want to hear about their kids wearing a satanic shoe.
Before the shoe went into sale, Lil Nas X published an apology after getting a lot of online criticism. However, what starts like a usual online drama apology, quickly turns out to be cut into scenes from the MONTERO video. Apparently, this approach gets much appreciation in the comments.