Ne-Yo apologized after making a series of anti-trans comments.
“You could identify as a goldfish if you feel like, I don’t care. That ain’t my business,” he continued. “It becomes my business when you try to make me play the game with you. I’m not finna call you a goldfish. But if you wanna be a goldfish, you go be a goldfish. We live in a weird time, man."
Further mocking "trigger warnings" and saying that "comedians can't tell jokes no more," he continued, “I feel like parents have almost forgotten what the role of a parent is. If your little boy comes to you and says, ‘Daddy, I want to be a girl,' you just let him rock with that?"
“If you let this 5-year-old boy decide to eat candy all day, he’s going to do that. When did it become a good idea to let a 5-year-old, let a 6-year-old, let a 12-year-old make a life-changing decision for themselves?”
"I don't know if this is true, but I heard a rumor that they either passed or are trying to pass a law in LA that states if your child comes to you and asks to do some of these things [drugs, surgery] and you say no, they could take your kid from you," he further said, claiming it makes "no sense."
It's likely that Ne-Yo is referring to misinformation surrounding AB 957, a bill which passed the California Assembly earlier this year. However, what he's saying is not accurate. The bill essentially proposes that child custody and visitation cases should "include a parent’s affirmation of the child’s gender identity or gender expression as part of the health, safety, and welfare of the child." If passed, it will be just one part of the plethora of information used when making a decision about parental custody.
Moreover, despite Ne-Yo's comments, research has already proven that gender-affirming care "greatly improves the mental health and overall well-being of gender diverse, transgender, and nonbinary children and adolescents." Even though said care is supported by every major medical association, representing over 1.3 million US doctors, some people are still trying to legislate gender-affirming care out of existence.
