Heavyweight boxer Evander Holyfield is no champ on the new season of UKÂ Celebrity Big Brother after making unbelievably naive and offensive comments about gay people, comparing homosexuality to a leg injury that can be treated by a physician.
Holyfield made the remarks Sunday while lying in bed (not the huge plush pink headboard) with reality star Luisa Zissman, who asked him if he knows any gay boxers. âI think itâs good to be open like that because itâs normal,â she added.
âThat ainât normal,â Holyfield insisted.
The 51-year-old deeply religious retired boxer, who has fathered eleven children with six different women, sites the good book as the source of his stupidity knowledge. âThe Bible lets you know whatâs wrong and whatâs right.â
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Perhaps the man has taken too many blows to his brain, because thereâs no other way to explain his ham-handed analogy:
âIf you were born, and your leg was turned this way, what do you do? Go to the doctor and get it fixedâŠThe only thing Iâm trying to tell you is you know how handicapped people, you canât say because theyâre born that way you canât move thatâŠYes, it is a choice.â
Big Brother producers promptly told Holyfield his comments were âinappropriateâ and they âarenât the views that are held by a large section of society.â They warned him to not make remarks like that again. Holyfield claims he understand, tries to make a half-assed attempt at explaining why he said it but never apologized.
H/t: TMZ
Geoff B
I can’t even get mad at this guy. I’m supposed to care what someone whose career was getting punched in the head thinks? Having said that, gotta love a “devout Christian” whose personal life seems to mirror that of a typical Maury Povich episode.
LubbockGayMale
Evander, being gay can’t be ‘cured’ any more than being BLACK, or stupid.
TampaBayTed
Guess he took a page from Michael Jackson who started out as a really attractive black man and wound up through plastic surgery and chemicals a freakish looking “white” man.
B Damion
Gezzz..I know what he means. It’s like choosing to be a black person today or a white person today. Or..or like the choice of being born wealthy or poor. Or the choice to be tall or short. Or chosing to have your dad leave so that you can be raised in a single parent home. Wait umm!
Anyway,he seems like a smart guy and I agree with him.
Kieran
Punch drunk.
2eo
He chose the right profession, I imagine a great many people would, and have enjoyed punching him in the face.
KittyLitter
Of course he’s black……….
Caleb in SC
If he thinks it is a choice then, by all means, I invite him to choose to be gay for six months and then switch back to show everyone how easy it is.
Merv
Unfortunately, the doctors will be able to do nothing for his chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
dougmc92
did anyone mention openly gay boxer Orlando Cruz on the show???? Did anyone ask the bigot he he chose to be straight???
jimbryant
I have to come to the partial defense of Evander. I do NOT agree with the idea that sexual orientation (ie innate feelings) can or should be rectified but I DO agree with his idea that sexual behaviour is a choice.
Let’s face it – you can choose to be chaste or non-chaste.
Tyler100
@jimbryant:
And you can chose to be a douche. JimBryant made that choice and has stuck with it for years. Such dedication!
avesraggiana
If being gay were a choice, itâs a choice I would happily make the same way all over again. Fix that.
ZaneStuart
@jimbryant: You really do post comments for the sake of it don’t you? Nowhere in the article does it mention sexual behavior. That extrapolation is all in your own head. Weirdo.
bmwblonde
The guy is a pathetic, ignorant, dumb â head-continuously-pounded moron. So why is he being “featured” on Queerty? So many poor black men can only “escape” the grossly fenced-in nightmare of our society’s horrifically institutionalized prejudice, by becoming “sports figures” and boxers. That is sad, but still doesn’t mean that some of their stupendously ignorant ranting should evoke anything except pity. Also, black culture has been defended by some of the most ignorant, fundamentalist, nut-cake “Christian” communities (understandable, but does not make their “beliefs” reflect any reality except ghetto-ization.) All too sad.
Dakotahgeo
Now we’re supposed to listen to the ‘hallowed’ advice from a sports POS from the stupidest field of sports possible?? A boxer??? Gads, we HAVE finally hit the bottom of the barrel!!! From a guy who gets beat up and beats up other guys… pathetic!!! What a dunce!!!
Dakotahgeo
@LubbockGayMale: And in his case, there is no dividing line.
jabba3445
I don’t want to cause some issue here but to a person who sees it as a problem like he does for what ever reason, he is just making a simple logical argument, which is that if you had something which genetically or psychologically caused a problem you would try and get it fixed.
I completely disagree with him in thinking its a problem but because of his ignorance on this issue. I don’t think he is preaching hate i think because he doesn’t know what it is exactly he is talking about he is just seeing the whole issue as a bad thing which is what he has been taught.
Eiswirth
No one is going to confuse this guy with a Rhodes scholar.
Derek Williams
Evander says so, so it must be true – Argumentum Ad Verecundiam.
AnitaMann
So he’s an idiot. We already knew that.
Geoff B
@2eo: Right? Somehow I feel like I owe Mike Tyson an apology for thing he was such a whack job for nearly biting his ear off all those years ago. Clearly he’s the saner of the two.
drevan
He gets punched for a living. in the head. a lot.
Bob LaBlah
People before we start treating this ONCE WAS of a man and the official “WORD” of a false prophet as the law OF MANKIND maybe we should draw the connection between the type of entertainment he provides/provided just as that…………ENTERTAINMENT.
Celebrity/reality shows provide entertainment for those who are thrilled to watch people do nothing but take what the SCRIPT that they were provided with and twist it into entertainment in whatever why they have to in order to keep the ignorant coming back week after week. Just remember the word SCRIP…….TURE(?) and think about the bible and the TALES it tells of their “heroes”.
The fact that he is black and praises a belief that did nothing else but suppress the roots of their (blacks) beliefs and convinced them that they were wrong but Mr. Whiteman’s way was right should be reason enough to laugh at him instead of voicing anger. I’m sure that foolish comment had to cause all of fifty-thousand more of the ignorant to tune which might allow for another season.
Fitz
I’m all done looking out for anyone who isn’t looking out for me. Personally, politically, the whole gambit. All done.
Spike
Brain dead d-list idiot, who cares what he thinks.
Kangol
@KittyLitter:
Why did you have to add your r@cist post? Why?
The man is brain-dead, but no more brain-dead than most of the Roman Catholic bishops or the Duck Dynasty wackos or any of the other homophobes out there. Ignorance is NOT bliss!
Joincny
@jimbryant: odd question for you: did you by chance go to a Christian university?
JennyFromdabloc
Morality tips from a deadbeat dad. Next episode: tax advice from Wesley Snipes.
OneSelf
@Caleb in SC: One doesn’t have to be a bigot to experience being gay as a choice. That’s how I’ve experienced it, and I owe no one any apologies (on either side). Come to think of it, anyone who tries it out for awhile, if they have any sense, wouldn’t switch back. đ