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- Dwyane Wade has thanked Mike Tyson for blasting rapper Boosie Badazz over offensive comments about his transgender daughter, Zaya, online.
- In February, Badazz pleaded for Wade not to let Zaya, 13, “dress as a woman” or “cut off his d— off” because she was too young to make “big decisions” about her gender.
- “What happened to you that you think that you’re somebody that can comment on somebody’s life?” Tyson told Badazz in an interview in October.
- “It was great to hear him say that,” Wade said of Tyson’s comments.
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Dwyane Wade has thanked Mike Tyson for blasting rapper Boosie Badazz over offensive comments about his transgender daughter, Zaya, online.
In February, Wade revealed that Zaya had come out as transgender, and was faced with a number of negative comments questioning her ability to make such a determination.
Badazz took to Instagram at the time pleading for Wade not to allow the 13-year-old Zaya to “dress as a woman,” or “cut off his d— off” because she was too young to make such “big decisions.”
A 2019 study found transgender children know their identity at the same time their cisgender peers do, bringing into question the suggestion that transgender kids can be too young to know their gender identity.
Retired heavyweight Tyson called out Badazz over his comments during an interview on his podcast, Hotboxin’, in October, while saying he agreed with Badazz’s concerns.
"I agree with you," Tyson told Badazz. "But who the f--- am I to say anything? My opinion don't mean a motherf---ing thing.
"We never know we really are, we think we know we are are. Who the f--- are we to make comments about somebody else's life? What happened to you that you think that you're somebody that can comment on somebody's life?"
Speaking with Central Ave on Friday, Wade said he was grateful for Tyson's words.
"I actually talked to Mike about that earlier in the pandemic, we had a conversation," Wade said. "I appreciated it from the standpoint of Mike is someone who has never tried to be perfect.
"He is someone who has learned from this journey of life. He's one of those people, he's so smart, he's so educated and knowledgeable about life. And for him to be able to drop that nugget on the world, to me, it was great to hear him say that."
He added: "I understand that everyone has their own path and 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 or my loved ones because they don't know us, they don't know our hearts, they definitely don't know Zaya."
In February, Wade spoke with Good Morning America's Robin Roberts about how Zaya approached him about being transgender.
"Zaya, early on, knew two things: She knew straight and she knew gay," he explained. "But Zaya started doing more research. She is the one who sat down with us, as a family, and said, 'Hey, I don't think I'm gay.'
"She went down a list and said, 'This is how I identify myself. This is my gender identity. I identity myself as a young lady. I identify as straight trans because I like boys.'"
Wade added: "My daughter was my first interaction when it comes with having to deal with this conversation. Hopefully I'm dealing with it the right way.
"Some people think I'm not but, inside our home, we see the smile on our daughter's face. We see the confidence that she's able to walk around and be herself and that's when you know you're doing it right."
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