Mario Lopez apologized Wednesday (via his rep) for telling conservative commentator Candace Owens that itโs โdangerousโ and โalarmingโ for parents to honor the wishes of young children who identify with a gender other than the one assigned at birth.
Lopez originally made the comments in a June interview on The Candance Owen Show, but the clips resurfaced and received backlash on Twitter.
During the interview, Owens and Lopez discussed what Owens called the โweird trendโ of celebrities allowing their young children to choose how they identify. Charlize Theron was mentioned in the interview, as the actress revealed in April that her 7-year-old son Jackson did not identify as a boy.
Owens said she didnโt understand the โnew Hollywood mentalityโ where celebrities โthink their children now have the mental authority.โ
Lopez agreed with Owens, saying โI am trying to understand it myself.โ

โLook, Iโm never one to tell anyone how to parent their kids obviously and I think if you come from a place of love, you really canโt go wrong but at the same time, my God, if youโre 3 years old and youโre saying youโre feeling a certain way or you think youโre a boy or a girl or whatever the case may be, I just think itโs dangerous as a parent to make this determination then, well, OK, then youโre going to a boy or a girl, whatever the case may be. Itโs sort of alarming and my gosh, I just think about the repercussions later on,โ Lopez said.
Queer Eye star Karamo Brown was among those who took issue with Lopezโs statement: