Marlon Wayans is urging the public to “hold space” for Boosie Badazz as he continues to navigate life with a queer child.
The Baton Rouge rapper, 41, is facing backlash after he said he didn’t want his 22-year-old daughter, who identifies as a lesbian, to “contaminate” his other children during an appearance on Yung Miami’s Revolt show “Caresha Please” at Revolt World 2024.
“She still can’t bring her situation to our house. My daughter is grown—Because I don’t want it to contaminate her others [siblings],” he said, according to Complex. “It’s a generation we’re raising, and I don’t want her to get too contaminated for her other six or seven sisters who look up to her. I want them to bring me grandchildren…”
Despite the live audience groaning in displeasure in response, the “Set it Off” rapper remained staunched.
“If I don’t want my other little girl to look at daddy and say, ‘What’s that daddy?’ to somebody she looks up to? It’s not gonna come around,” he explained, adding, “My grandfather didn’t let it, my daddy didn’t let it, and I didn’t let it.”
As the backlash began to mount online, Wayans, 52, who has been open about navigating his own family dynamics with a queer child, offered a nuanced take.
“[You] can’t paint [Boosie] as a monster. That man is father that provides. I believe him, his daughter and God will figure this out,” Wayans wrote in a post on X.
The comedian noted how it took him “a second” to understand his transgender son, Kai.
“Give their family grace and time. This is growing pain. She know her daddy loves her. That’s all that matters,” he continued. “He may come around he may not. But that’s on him and her.”
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When a user highlighted that despite the “Bel Air” actor needing time to understand his son, he never said things like “contamination,” he added, “I wouldn’t have BUT I understand the disposition and i will hold space for [Boosie] and his family.”
Wayans wasn’t the only one to weigh in. Boosie’s daughter in question, Iviona Hatch, offered her own response to her father’s remarks in a post on Friday.
“If you know me, I love and respect my siblings with everything in me. And they respect me and love me with everything in them,” she said, per Complex.
The 22-year-old further alleged that Boosie responded to her coming out by calling her a “gay b-word.”
She added, “So if the world really knew the hurtful things you told me before and I forgave you, you wouldn’t even understand.”
Wayans has discussed the journey he’s taken to acceptance and understanding when it comes to his son Kai. The comedian admitted the process has not been completely smooth or without its learning curve. During a Sept. 17 appearance on “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” he said Kai was “the same child they was before — they just got a beard now. Okay! Same baby.”
The father of three, who is also father to son Shawn, 22, and one-year-old daughter Axl, added that embracing Kai taught him he’s “a lot stronger than I thought I was. I learned that my family — my brothers, my sisters — have prepared me to be a rock in our family.”
The “Scary Movie” star also made headlines earlier this month when he condemned recent remarks Elon Musk had made about his own transgender daughter.
In a recent appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s podcast “Club Shay Shay,” Wayans said, “I have a Tesla that I’m about to drive over a cliff ’cause I don’t like what he be saying about his trans child that make me mad. You know you don’t treat them babies like that. You don’t disown your babies.”
