UPDATED: Ne-Yo Changes Tune On 'Offensive' Comments On Trans Kids

UPDATE 8/8/23: Ne-Yo has backtracked on his back-peddling apology. After first speaking insultingly about transgender children, then apologizing to the LGBTQ+ community and admitting he has some learning to do, the singer has yet again changed his tune in a post on Instagram captioned, " I WILL NOT BE BULLIED INTO APOLOGIZING FOR HAVING AN OPINION."

“Listen, I normally don’t give too much of a damn about what y’all think about what I do, what you have to say about what I say, whatever. I normally don’t care because, like I said, opinions ain’t special. Everybody got one. However, this is something I feel very strongly on, and I need y’all to hear it from the horse’s mouth, not the publicist’s computer,” he began.

“First and foremost, I did not apologize for having an opinion on this matter. I am a 43-year-old heterosexual man raising five boys and two girls, okay? That’s my reality. If my opinion offended somebody, yeah, sure, I apologize for you being offended because that wasn’t my intention. My intention is never to offend anybody.”

“However," he continued. "I’m entitled to feel how I feel. I am absolutely entitled to feel how I feel the same way you are entitled to feel how you feel.”

“My intention is never to offend anybody…but my opinion is MINE and I’m entitled to it,” he added. “I don’t care what y’all do with yours. That’s YOURS. This is how I FEEL. If one of my 7 kids were to decide that he or she wanted to be something other than what they were born as, once they’re old enough and mature enough to make that decision…so be it. Not gonna love em’ any less.”

(CNN) — Ne-Yo has apologized for remarks he made about gender identity and parenting trans children.

The singer posted a statement on Twitter expressing his regret over some of the things he said during a recent interview with VladTV.

“After much reflection, I’d like to express my deepest apologies to anyone that I may have hurt with my comments on parenting and gender identity,” the statement reads. “I’ve always been an advocate for love and inclusivity in the LGBTQI+ community, so I understand how my comments could’ve been interpreted as insensitive and offensive.”

During the interview, Ne-Yo said, “I just personally come from 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.”

“You could identify as a goldfish if you feel like, I don’t care. That ain’t my business,” he added. “It becomes my business when you try to make me play the game with you. I’m not gonna call you a goldfish. But if you wanna be a goldfish, you go be a goldfish.”

He also commented on parents who support their children identifying as a gender that differs from their sex assigned at birth, saying, “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,’” Ne-Yo said. “And 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,” Ne-Yo added. “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?”

Critics of Ne-Yo’s remarks pointed to medical evidence that supports gender-affirming care for children and adolescents after his interview was uploaded on YouTube over the weekend.

CNN has reached out to representatives for the artist for additional comment.

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