Former Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade just showed his appreciation for boxer Mike Tyson. Iron Mike defended Wade’s daughter, Zaya, during an episode of Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson after the rapper Boosie Badazz made transphobic comments. Now Wade has opened up about the boxer coming to his daughter’s aid.
“I actually talked to Mike about that early in the pandemic,” Wade said during an interview with Central Ave on Friday. “We had a conversation. I appreciated 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 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.”
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Wade and his wife Gabrielle Union announced in February that they supported 12-year-old Zaya coming out as a transgender girl. Boosie responded with several comments about the situation. He said that Zaya isn’t old enough to make this decision.
“That is a male. A 12-year-old,” Boosie said. “At 12, they don’t even know what their next meal gonna be. They don’t have s— figured out yet. He might meet a woman, anything, at 16 and fall in love with her. But his d— gonna be gone.”
The rapper later sat down with Tyson and faced questions about his comments. He said that he chose to comment on the situation due to Zaya’s age. Boosie said that he got offended “because it’s a child.”
Tyson did ultimately respond to the rapper. He asked him what gave him the right to make these comments about the Wade family. “What happened to you that you think that you’re somebody that can comment on somebody’s life?” he asked.
Zaya was born as Zion, but she later announced that she was part of the LGBTQ+ community and wanted to go by she/her pronouns. Wade and Union said that they supported the decision as Zaya’s parents. They also received both support and criticism.
“When our child comes home with a question, when our child comes home with an issue when our child comes home with anything, it’s our job as parents to listen to that, to give them the best information that we can, the best feedback that we can,” Wade told Ellen DeGeneres in February. He later said that nothing changes with his love or responsibilities as a parent.
