On Saturday (April 10), Kid Cudi wore a dress during his performance on Saturday Night Live.
Kid Cudi wore the floral summer dress as a tribute to the late Kurt Cobain, who died 27 years ago on April 5, 1994. In a tweet, Kid Cudi revealed that he “wanted to show his love to Kurt” with his outfit. He also shared that the “masterpiece” was custom designed by Virgil Abloh.
Online, Kid Cudi’s sartorial choice has been met with both celebrations and critics. On Sunday April 11, famous LGBTQ + songwriter, musician and producer Justin Tranter applauded the rapper on Twitter for going against cultural norms, while recalling a past transgression involving a member of the rapper’s entourage.
In a tweet since deleted, Tranter shared an anecdote from their tour with Kid Cudi in 2009. According to Tranter, a member of Cudi’s team hurled a homophobic slur while walking past their locker room. “I was serving up one of my legendary gender nonconforming looks and a member of her team shouted ‘f — ot’ and they all laughed and left,” they wrote.
Tranter received backlash for the tweet, with several Twitter users accusing them of calling Kid Cudi during his big time. Others took the opportunity to “cancel” Kid Cudi and “expose” him. But Tranter clarified in a follow-up post that their intention was to salute the progress made between 2009 and now, not to stir up controversy. They also mentioned that Cudi looked “gorgeous”.
An hour later, Tranter confirmed to have deleted the tweet due to the backlash. They also reassured fans that the purpose of the tweet was to celebrate the positive development of the music industry, not to tear anyone down or rehash the past.
Watch Kid Cudi’s SNL performance on “Sad People” below:
