Feeling the love! Dwyane Wade spoke out about Mike Tyson’s support after the fighter defended Wade’s daughter Zaya against transphobic tweets last month.
“I actually talked to Mike about that early in the pandemic,” Wade, 38, said on Central Ave on Friday, November 20. “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.”
The former basketball player noted that Tyson, 54, is “so smart. He is so educated and knowledgeable about life,” which made his positive statements about Wade’s 13-year-old daughter’s choice to come out as transgender that much more powerful.
“For him to be able to drop that nugget on the world, to me, it was great to hear him say that,” the athlete said.
Wade noted that “everyone has their own path” to accepting things.
“I’ve never came out and said anything to anybody that feels a certain way about me or someone else in my family and my loved ones,” he said. “They don’t know us. They don’t know our heart. They definitely don’t know Zay. So, all I do is what my mama say, ‘Just pray for them.’”
Last month, the boxing champion called out rapper Boosie Badazz during an October episode of his “Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson” podcast for making transphobic comments regarding Wade’s child earlier in the summer.
Tyson asked the musician, 38, “Why do you say things about people who might be a homosexual?” before telling him, “You may like homosexuals.”
When Boosie said he was “straight as an arrow,” Tyson pointed out that “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.”
Wade opened up about his daughter’s transgender journey during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in February after making headlines in April 2019 when he attended Miami Beach Pride festival with Zaya.
“First of all, me and my wife, Gabrielle Union, we are proud parents of a child in the LGBTQ+ community, and we’re proud allies as well,” the former Miami Heat player told Ellen DeGeneres. “We take our roles and our responsibilities as parents very seriously.”
Wade then detailed how Zaya told him and his wife that she is transgender, saying she told them she was “ready to live my truth.”
He recalled the conversation, adding that he responded by telling her, “You are a leader. You are a leader, and this is an opportunity to allow you to be a voice.” Wade explained that for now, he is going to be her voice because she is so young. “But eventually it will be through her,” he added.
Wade shares son Zaire, 18, and Zaya with his ex-wife, Siohvaughn Funches. He is also father of son Xavier, 7, with Aja Metoyer and daughter Kaavia, 2, with Union.