Mario Lopez apologises for ‘ignorant’ comment about trans children
Mario Lopez made the comments in an interview with conservative commentator Candace Owens (Photo by D Dipasupil/Getty Images for “Extra”)
Saved by the Bell actor Mario Lopez has apologised for his “ignorant comments” after he said parents who support transgender children were “dangerous”.
In a statement, the 45-year-old 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.”
Lopez made his comments in an interview with Candace Owens, a conservative commentator and supporter of Donald Trump.
Owens said that there was a “weird trend” in Hollywood of famous parents allowing their children to self-identify their gender.
She referenced Charlize Theron, who earlier this year revealed that her eldest child Jackson is actually a girl, and compared it to children saying they were a “mermaid” or that they could “fly.”
Lopez replied said: “I am trying to understand it myself, and please don’t lump me into that whole [group].
“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, okay, you’re going to a boy or a girl.
“It’s sort of alarming and I just think about the repercussions later on.”
Lopez added that his children, who attend a Catholic school, would not spend time with kids who were allowed to self-identify gender. “They don’t kick it with those kids,” he said.
The TV personality later spoke about #believewomen, and said that the campaign to encourage women to speak up about sexual assault was “dangerous.”
He said is was a “dangerous hashtag because people lie and sometimes those people are women.”
Speaking to PinkNews, the media monitoring organisation GLAAD, said in response to the comments: “Medical and psychological experts, and parents of children who are transgender, have long discredited the ideas that Mario Lopez shared last month.
“The real ‘dangerous action’ is when someone with a public platform uses bad science to speak against a marginalised and vulnerable group of children.
“We spoke with Extra and it is clear that the show runners do not support or share his view.
“They will address this issue on the show tonight. Lopez clearly needs a primer on trans issues. We reached out to his team to see if and how he will correct the record.”
