The Internet says and does some crazy things. It has a mind of its own, and its a mind that is often times very, very wrong. But sometimes, it is so so right.
This is one of those times.
Back in May, Zayn Malik showed up to the Met Gala alongside Gigi Hadid wearing a unique set of metal arms. Naturally, the Internet had a lot of thoughts about it. Never mind the fact that the theme of said gala was Manus x Machina (technology, in layman's terms), the people of Twitter thought that the whole getup was just completely over-the-top and hilarious. There were plenty of comparisons, from Mortal Kombat to Star Wars. A few samplings below:
Zayn looks like a fridge https://t.co/WsL3gxYQol
— Grace Spelman (@GraceSpelman) May 2, 2016
Zayne looks like he on his way back from the iron man cosplay convention and forgot to take off the arms
— Paul Rudd's #1 fan (@notaharpist) May 3, 2016
Zayn looks amazing!!! ?? #MetGala pic.twitter.com/Uaj7juH6AH
— andrew spena (@iamsosorry) May 3, 2016
ZAYN IS OUR JAX FROM MORTAL KOMBAT #MetGala pic.twitter.com/JczIYvAmao
— EMINIK OFFICIAL (@EminikOfficial) May 3, 2016
All I could think of when I saw Zayn's Met Gala outfit ?? pic.twitter.com/OzmDR3Kq7Q
— malum // malec ? (@dominatemalum) May 3, 2016
Someone explain these Forrest Gump leg braces on Zayn's arms. pic.twitter.com/hnKlI5JZZS
— Joe Santagato (@JoeSantagato) May 3, 2016
Tailor: What you need fam?
— [:?-?:] (@DubOnDaBeatz) May 3, 2016
Zayn: You ever play mortal kombat?
Tailor: Say no more fam. #MetGala pic.twitter.com/M4TJStxV2S
Digging zayn's met gala look pic.twitter.com/aA8jQQfBdw
— Willy Blackmore (@willyblackmore) May 3, 2016
When @zaynmalik turns up to the #MetGala looking like the Tin Man ?? pic.twitter.com/isSHklIUkT
— Rume Ugen (@keepitfrank) May 3, 2016
zayn's robot arms for the #metgala got you like ?????? pic.twitter.com/7tPm78bFlm
— Raphael Gomes (@raphablueberry) May 3, 2016
As you can see, there's an overarching theme here, and that's that Zayn ripped his outfit from a futuristic character. But now it seems the joke is on the Internet, because that's actually what he tried to do. On purpose. As in, he's been in on these digs the entire time.
The "Pillowtalk" singer recently spoke with Dazed & Confused, and they of course asked about the now-infamous outfit. "I was asked to design my own outfit by Donatella Versace," Malik told Dazed. "I had seen a few people hitting me online, saying negative things about it. But I enjoyed it because they were saying I looked like a dude from Mortal Kombat, and it was actually based on a character called Jax."
Zayn went on to throw a bit of shade to the other Met Gala-goers who didn't dress up like Mortal Kombat: "He had metal arms, and the theme was technology, so I just took it from him...It's a bit easy to just dress up in a suit. I like to do things that are a bit outside of that."
Can we get a collective oh, snap? This statement is great for several reasons. One, the Internet was actually right for once. And two, it gave Zayn the opportunity to not only burn the Internet, but to burn anybody who didn't get made fun of by the Internet. So really, everyone wins here.