Dwayne Wade Shuts Down Criticism for Supporting His Son at Pride

We cheered when power couple Dwayne Wade and Gabrielle Union went to Pride with their son Zion last April. "We support each other with Pride!" Wade captioned a photo of Union and his 11-year-old on his Instagram story. 

Sadly, the world we live in still sucks on occasion and while the story made many LGBTQ peoples' hearts soar, it was also met with homophobia and criticism. 

Variety recently sat down with the NBA star and asked if he was surprised by the social media backlash. 

"Yes," Wade began. "This is my job as a father and I'm very uneasy about accolades that come from supporting my kids or obviously the negativity that comes with it. I'm doing what every parent should do. Once you bring kids in this world, you have to become unselfish. You're not important anymore. Your kids become the most important thing. Your family becomes the most important thing. I'm doing what I feel is right for my family and that's to support my kids in the same way like it's a sport, or if they come home with great grades. It's to build them up, let them know they can do anything in this world." 

He continued:

"You got to understand, I'm from the inner-city of Chicago. I wasn't told that. I wasn't told I can be anybody and do anything and I wasn't always shown that. It's my job to be their role model, to be the voice in my kids lives to let them know you can conquer the world and you have the support of your father. You have the support of your family every step of the way. So go and be your amazing self and we're going to sit back and love you and support you along the way."

Father of the year award goes to!!!

Watch the clip below.