Kid Cudi reacts to critics of his choice to wear a dress on SNL

Kid Cudi thinks it's "funny" and "wild" that haters have made entire YouTube videos dedicated to trashing his choice to wear a floral dress for a recent Saturday Night Live performance, but he's unfazed by the negative reactions.

"This is crazy that I've stirred it up like this. This is wild. But if this is what I'm supposed to do, then so be it," the rapper said during an appearance on HBO's The Shop that surfaced Monday. "I want to be a disrupter. I want to f--- s--- up. And it's cool because I'm also giving confidence to the kids and telling them to be themselves and do what they want to do. If you wanna wear a dress, wear a dress. Be who you are."

Cudi had planned to wear a dress for a performance for years, ever since he saw Kurt Cobain don one at a concert some three decades ago — he just didn't know when. After SNL reached out asking if he'd be the musical guest for the Carey Mulligan–hosted episode in April, he knew it was the perfect opportunity to whip out a more adventurous wardrobe pick.

"The image of seeing Kurt Cobain in a dress was very rock & roll to me. That was cool," he said. "So, I already made my mind up years ago that I wanted to do this. I've never been someone who's thinking about the backlash. I don't give a f--- about what anyone thinks. You can't when you're doing this s---. I knew it would piss some people off, but I love that because hip-hop is so weird about [masculinity]."

Cudi says he didn't receive responses from any of his hip-hop peers but joked, "It's not like Kanye is gonna hit me up and be like, 'Yo, that dress was fresh.' But it's okay. I know that Kanye sees that and he respects me for it."

When fellow guest Chelsea Handler asked him if any negative feedback affects him, he replied, "I'm more like, 'Hmm, I wonder why they feel that way.' F--- 'em."

Guests on a recent episode of EW's Beyond the Binary Pride podcast discussed whether or not cisgender famous men like Cudi and Harry Styles wearing dresses is actually good for nonbinary visibility. Listen below.

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