‘SNL’: Kid Cudi Honored Chris Farley During Last Night’s Performance

Kid Cudi surprised fans with his performance on Saturday Night Live last night (April 10). The artist performed tracks from his latest album, Man on the Moon III: The Chosen One, released last December. But what stuck out for many online is how Kid Cudi paid tribute to late SNL castmate Chris Farley and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain with his choice of clothing.

Any reference to Farley is welcome for fans of the late-night sketch show. Farley was beloved cast member on SNL from 1990 to 1995, and he also starred in iconic movies like Black Sheep and Tommy Boy. He sadly died of a drug overdose on Dec. 18, 1997, at age 33. This is the second Farley tribute in recent years, as Adam Sandler memorably delivered a musical tribute to the late actor during his 2019 hosting appearance.

As for Cudi, It’s clear he’s not wasting any time to get back on the stage following his last studio release, performing “Tequila Shots” during his first time as SNL musical guest. This was his first public performance since ComplexCon in 2019, where he appeared alongside artists such as A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Lil’ Kim, YBN Nahmir, EarthGang, Rico Nasty, YBN Almighty Jay, Pop Smoke, and Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals.

Man on the Moon III, which serves as a follow-up to his 2018 Kanye West collaboration Kids See Ghosts, came 11 years after the original Man on the Moon album. A private person, Cudi hasn’t done many interviews regarding his latest release, but it wasn’t necessarily received very well among critics. Pitchfork describes his venture as “when the old rock band reunites and their costumes don’t fit anymore.”

A song from the original album that’s received a breath of new life recently is Cudi’s “Day N’ Nite.” The single recently became a new TikTok trend, in which fans would splice the lyrics “now look at this,” from the song and pair it with a funny video. It seemed like a harmless trend, however, the song’s creator revealed he wasn’t a fan of the movement. “I don’t f–– with what they did to my song on tik tok takin out the lyrics. We live in a strange time. I’m not flattered,” he wrote on Twitter at the time.

While some of his fans took his response as an overreaction, Cudi responded to the critic saying, “I don’t think im makin’ ‘deep’ by tweetin how I feel. Now if I was ranting that’s another thing. Nothing wrong w me stating I don’t approve, plus if u are such a fan, u know my lyrics are most important to me. Im passionate about my s–– so idc who has a problem w that.” Fans certainly didn’t have a problem with his appearance on SNL, though.

Lately, Kid Cudi (born Scott Mescudi) has been trying his hand at acting. Within the last year, he’s starred in Bill & Ted Face the Music, the new season of Westworld and We Are Who We Are, the debut series by director Luca Guadagnino.