On Monday, singer Ne-Yo walked back a previous apology issued last Sunday after he criticized parents who let their children make the “life-changing” decision to change their gender, the New York Post reported.
Last Saturday, the singer set off the usual outrage mob after saying in an interview that parents today have “forgotten” what it means to be a parent. He suggested that parents would never allow a 5-year-old boy to “eat candy all day,” and asked when it became “a good idea” to let that same boy “make a life-changing decision” like deciding he wants to be a girl.
Ne-Yo explained that he comes from an era when a “man was a man and a woman was a woman.”
After the outrage mob descended, Ne-Yo posted a statement on Twitter (AKA X) expressing his “deepest apologies” to those he may have hurt with his comments.
Insisting that he has always advocated for “love and inclusivity” for the LGBT community, Ne-Lo said he could understand why his comments might have been “interpreted as insensitive and offensive.”
He described gender identity as “nuanced” and said he planned to “better educate myself on the topic.”
But in a video posted on Instagram Monday, Ne-Yo clarified his Sunday statement, explaining that he preferred to speak directly to the controversy rather than leaving it to “a publicist’s computer.”
Ne-Yo said he wasn’t apologizing “for having an opinion on this matter.” He explained that his “reality” is that he is a “43-year-old heterosexual man” who is “raising five boys and two girls.”
He said his comments weren’t meant to be offensive and he was sorry if they were taken that way, but added that he is just as entitled to his opinions as others are.
Ne-Yo explained that he was simply answering the question he was asked and added that he has no “beef” with the LGBT community.
“Do what you want with your kids,” he added.
