Dwyane Wade is grateful for boxing legend Mike Tyson’s support for his daughter Zaya, especially after rapper Boosie Badazz made transphobic comments about her.
Dwyane Wade received so much praise and support when he opened up about his 13-year-old’s gender identity during a Feb. 11, 2020 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. He revealed that his daughter Zaya goes by she/her pronouns and no longer is called her birth name, Zion. Despite Dwyane’s unconditional love and support towards his daughter’s decision, there were haters, including rapper Boosie Badazz, who made transphobic comments. After legendary boxer Mike Tyson, 54, confronted Boosie about his statements, D-Wade is thankful that Iron Mike called out the rapper.
“I actually talked to Mike about that early in the pandemic,” the 38-year-old retired NBA superstar revealed on the Nov. 20 episode of Central Ave. “We had a conversation. I appreciated it 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 one of the people who is so smart. He is so educated and knowledgeable about life, For him to be able to drop that nugget on the world, to me, it was great to hear him say that,” Dwyane revealed when it came to Mike confronting Boosie.
The 38-year-old Baton Rouge rapper went on a transphobic Instagram rant on Feb. 18 after Dwyane’s announcement about his transgender daughter. “Dwyane Wade you’ve gone too f**king far,” he began, saying that Zaya was too young to even know “what their next meal is going to be.” “That is a male. A 12-year-old. They don’t have sh-t figured out yet,” Boosie blasted. He told Dwyane, “Like, bruh, for real, if he gonna be gay, let him be gay. Don’t dress him as a woman, dawg. He’s 12 years old. He’s not up there yet. He hasn’t made his final decisions yet.”
Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike took Boosie to task for his comments during an Oct. 23 episode of his podcast, Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson. “How do you feel about other people’s feelings? You offend a lot of people when you talk about gay motherf**kers” and several homophobic slurs. “A lot of times I need the shut the f**k up,” Boosie admitted and Mike sternly asked, “Why don’t you?” as the rapper claimed it would be “hard.” You can watch Mike take Boosie to school starting at the 3:55 mark:
Mike then asked, “Why do you say things about a person who might be a homosexual? Do you think there’s a possibility you might be a homosexual and if you disrespect them it furthers yourself from being a homosexual? You may like homosexuals.” Boosie said he was “straight as an arrow,” and then Mike asked him “if you’re straight then why do you offend people?”
Boosie replied, “I really commented on the Dwyane Wade situation because I got offended because it’s a child. That’s really why I got offended,” and added if it had been and 18 or 19-year-old he probably wouldn’t have said anything. “I just felt like at 12, a child can’t make that decision. That’s just how I feel.” Mike then said even though he felt the same way, “Who the f**k am I to say anything. What I think don’t mean a motherf**king thing.” Mike then asked, “Who the f**k are we to make a comment about somebody’s life? Who are you?” Boosie then replied “I said it and I stand on what I say.” Well, at least Mike went there with Boosie and tried to reason with him that it’s not his place to openly call out someone else’s life decisions like that.