Ne-Yo Bashes Parents Who Transition Kids: ‘Forgotten’ Their Roles — UPDATE: Singer Caves, Apologizes

Singer Ne-Yo, best known for his hit R&B song “So Sick,” bashed parents who transition children who declare themselves transgender. Speaking with Gloria Velez for VladTV, Ne-Yo said that parents who transition their children have “forgotten” their roles by allowing their children to dictate reality.

UPDATE: Ne-Yo apologized for his remarks Sunday night and pledged to “better educate myself on the topic, so I can approach future conversations with more empathy.”

I’d like to express my deepest apologies… pic.twitter.com/M5aTFN40tn

— NE-YO (@NeYoCompound) August 7, 2023

Original story continues below.

“I feel like the parents have almost forgotten what the role of a parent is,” he said. “If your little boy comes up to you and says, ‘Daddy I wanna be a girl,’ you just let him rock with that?”

“Where did he get that? If you let this 5-year-old little boy eat candy all day, he’s gonna do that. Like, when did it become a good idea to let a 5-year-old, a 6-year-old, a 12-year-old make a life-changing decision? When did that happen? Like, I don’t understand that,” he added.

Ne-Yo recalled an “era” where a “man was a man and a woman was a woman.”

“There was two genders and that’s just how I rocked,” he said. “You could identify as a goldfish if you feel like, that ain’t my business. It becomes my business when you try to make me play the game. I’m not gonna call you a goldfish.”

Despite the angry reaction from pro-transgender activists on Twitter, Ne-Yo’s comments stand in line with a majority of Americans, who strongly oppose the medical transitioning of minors. Per The Hill:

A majority of Americans oppose allowing gender-affirming care for minors and transgender women participating in women’s sports, a poll found.

A Washington Post-KFF poll found that 68 percent of adults oppose access to puberty-blocking medication for transgender children ages 10-14 and 58 percent oppose access to hormonal treatments for transgender kids ages 15 to 17.

More than 60 percent said transgender women and girls should not be allowed to compete with other women and girls in youth, high school, college and professional sports.

Last month, Louisiana became the 20th state to ban the transitioning of minors.

“This year has been record shattering for anti-LGBTQ legislation, with particular scrutiny on gender-affirming health care access for transgender children and teenagers. Nineteen states have passed laws restricting it — but not all bans are the same,” CNN noted.

“While some states have enacted laws that can punish health care professionals who provide gender-affirming treatment to minors with prison time, others have built in limited exceptions for minors to continue medication-based or nonsurgical forms of care,” it added.