Dwyane Wade ‘appreciated’ Mike Tyson defending his daughter against a rapper’s vile transphobia
Dwyane Wade (L) praised Mike Tyson for grilling a rapper who took issue with his daughter being trans. (Getty)
Dwyane Wade said he “appreciated” Mike Tyson defending his daughter against rapper Boosie Badazz’s tirade of transphobic comments.
During an interview with Central Ave on Friday (November 21), Wade thanked the boxer for speaking up about his and Gabrielle Union’s trans daughter, 13-year-old Zaya, last month.
This year, Badazz became almost fixated with Zaya and the loving way she is being raised by her parents. He has reportedly made disturbing remarks about her, beginning in February when he said: “Don’t cut [her] f**king d**k off, Dwyane Wade.”
“I actually talked to Mike about that early in the pandemic,” the former pro basketball player said.
“We had a conversation. I appreciated from a standpoint of, you know, Mike is someone who has never tried to be perfect. He is someone who has learned from this journey of life.
“He’s so smart. He is so educated and knowledgeable about life,” the 38-year-old added. “For him to be able to drop that nugget on the world, to me, it was great to hear him say that.”
Wade acknowledged that everyone, including Badazz, has “their own journey towards accepting things.”
‘I’ve never came out and said anything to anybody that feels a certain way about me or someone else in my family and my loved ones,” he said.
“They don’t know us. They don’t know our heart. They definitely don’t know Zaya. So, all I do is what my mama say: ‘Just pray for them’.”
Boxer suspected rapper might be ‘gay’ for attacking Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union’s trans daughter
During Badazz’s appearance on Tyson’s show, Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson, the eponymous host asked why the musician is attacking Zaya in the way he is.
“Why do you say things about people who might be homosexual?” Tyson asked, clearly misunderstanding that being trans is not the same thing as being gay.
“Why do you say that about them? Do you feel there’s a possibility that you’re a homosexual and by disrespecting them you further yourself from being a homosexual?”
“I’m thinking you may like homosexuals.”
Badazz responded: “No, I’m straight as an arrow.”
“If you’re straight, then why do you offend people?” Tyson replied.
Badazz said: “I really commented on Dwyane Wade’s situation because I got offended because it’s a child.
“That’s why I really got offended, you know. If it was a motherf**king 19-year-old, 18-year-old, grown person, I probably wouldn’t have, I know I wouldn’t have said anything.”
Obviously, the ramblings of two grown men don’t really matter considering that Zaya has two loving parents who support her unconditionally.
The couple has been vocal in their support for their trans daughter, praising her as “wildly inspiring” in September when they were named as one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2020.
In a video released at the time, the couple said Zaya “has the freedom to be exactly who she is, who she was born to be, to be her most authentic self”.
“She doesn’t ask permission to exist. That is wildly inspiring.”
