Dennis Rodman has the public in a tizzy after he chose to rock a skirt during a Pride Month event in Houston.
The month of June is recognized as Pride Month, which celebrates and embraces lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer pride. Throughout the month, events like parades, parties, award ceremonies and more take place across the nation. Over the weekend, Rodman attended one of the many festivities and made a fashion statement when he arrived wearing a green plaid skirt and a black T-shirt with his face on it. The 62-year-old NBA champion posted a video and two photos in an Instagram slideshow to show off his ensemble with the caption, “Love will Always Win🌈Happy Pride #gaypride #loveislove#pridemonth.”
View this post on Instagram
Although he has plenty of supporters, the New Jersey native is also facing backlash. “Use this as the dislike button ———>,” one person wrote. “Instant respect loss and unfollow,” another commented.
“Some of yall are too young to remember when this man literally MARRIED himself in full makeup and a wedding dress lol #icon,” one person wrote in support of Rodman.
“Dennis Rodman has been like this since the 90s idk why y’all are surprised , let the man live,” another person added.
In a 2021 interview with GQ, Rodman credited his confidence to the drag queens he encountered when he started going to gay clubs and drag shows during his time playing basketball for the San Antonio Spurs from 1993 to 1995.
“When you talk to people in the gay community, someone who does drag, something like that, they’re so fucking happy,” he told the outlet. “They hold their head up so high every f**king day, man. They’re not ashamed of s**t. They’re not trying to prove anything, they’re just out there living their lives.”
He added that wearing traditional women’s clothing wasn’t a big deal due to him growing up without a father figure and only women — his mom and older sisters. He’s always been transparent about his sisters dressing him like a doll since he was the youngest.
“I didn’t have no brothers. No father. I hung out with my sisters all the time, and they was just trying to make me dress up,” he said. “So I was like the guinea pig of the family.”
Rodman continued, “We all had fun at the time, but that didn’t inspire me when I got older. I guess it kind of made me have a sense of awareness of, like, man, I used to dress like this as a kid. Wearing a dress made me feel good. You know?”
According to Black Enterprise, Rodman couldn’t care less about the negative comments, as he gave them a reminder that he’s not new to this but true to it. He posted a collage of photos of other occasions when he wore bold attire along with the words, “DO YOUR RESEARCH GUYS #BEENHIM.”
