Talk radio personality Charlamagne tha God rejected the tactics of leftists who smear critics of the use of puberty-blocking drugs and sexually mutilating surgery on minors as “transphobic,” in another sign that the ground may be shifting in America’s culture wars.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, the host of the nationally syndicated “The Breakfast Club” said that there is a “legitimate debate to be had” over gender-affirming care for kids, putting himself in opposition to the Democratic Party and President Joe Biden who has championed the controversial procedures.
He also addressed the bullying and smearing of those who oppose what has become one of the central rallying principles of the political left, “Things like that bother me because it’s like we’re not even allowing ourselves to have the conversation,” he said. “Like, you’re just putting these labels on people. Like I’m transphobic because I feel like I’m, you know, just using a little common sense here.”
“There’s certain things minors cannot do because they’re minors. So you don’t think something as big as changing your gender, shouldn’t you wait until you’re at least 18?” Charlamagne asked. “The fact that people can’t even have a conversation about that without labeling somebody transphobic is very, very, very, very strange to me because it’s not like these people are saying, ‘No, we don’t want anybody transitioning,’ you know. Or ‘being trans is wrong.’ They’re simply saying, ‘Hey, let these minors wait until they’re a certain age.’ That’s very worthy of a conversation.”
(Video: Fox News)
Charlamagne – whose real name is Lenard McKelvey – continued, “And I think that you’re cheating those kids by not having the conversation, like you’re just shutting things down. Like, let’s all come to the table and talk about it and discuss these things… You shouldn’t just label somebody ‘transphobic’ because they’re saying, ‘Hey man, I think that this is a big decision for a kid to make, and maybe they should wait until they’re older.’ Like, that’s just common sense to me. But you know, who am I to judge.”
He also gave his thoughts on comic Dave Chappelle who has been savaged by the left over jokes about transgenderism that crossed the line with the “woke” cultural revolutionaries who tried to have him canceled.
“As long as I’ve been alive, comedians have always offended with comedy,” he said. “I think that comedians have always been offensive. And, you know, when you look at it, some people find it funny, some people find it offensive. That has always been, you know, the way of comedians.”
He added, “So I can’t say, you know, there’s no such thing as criticism not being warranted. Like criticism is subjective. Everybody has the right to critique and everybody sees things, you know, and in a different way… My thought on it is everybody has the right to their opinion about this piece of art that he put out to the world.”
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