Mario Lopez apologises for ‘ignorant and insensitive’ comments about transgender kids
"I have been and always will be an ardent supporter of the LGBTQ community."
By Will Stroude
Mario Lopez has apologised for “ignorant and insensitive” comments he made about transgender children during a recent podcast appearance.
The US TV presenter, 45, said he would “better educate” himself after he was criticised for sayng that supporting a child’s decision to determine their own gender as “dangerous”.
Lopez made the remarks during an appearance on The Candace Owens Show in June, but found himself at the centre of an online storm after a video of the exchange began circulating online this week.
In a statement to CNN, Lopez said: “The comments I made were ignorant and insensitive, and I now have a deeper understanding of how hurtful they were,”
“I have been and always will be an ardent supporter of the LGBTQ community, and I am going to use this opportunity to better educate myself.
“Moving forward I will be more informed and thoughtful.”
During the oiginal interview with Candace Owens, Lopez was asked about parents who support transgender children and replied: ““I am trying to understand it myself, and please don’t lump me into that whole [group]. I’m kind of blown away too.
He went on: “Look, I’m never one to tell anyone how to parent their kids obviously and I think if you come from a place of love, you really can’t go wrong but at the same time, my God, if you’re three years old and you’re saying you’re feeling a certain way or you think you’re a boy or a girl or whatever the case may be, I just think it’s dangerous as a parent to make this determination then, well, OK, then you’re going to a boy or a girl, whatever the case may be…
“It’s sort of alarming and my gosh, I just think about the repercussions later on.
“When you’re a kid … you don’t know anything about sexuality yet. You’re just a kid.”