Dwyane Wade thanked Mike Tyson for shutting down a rapper who made offensive comments about his transgender daughter on Instagram

• Dwyane Wade thanked Mike Tyson for blasting the rapper Boosie Badazz over offensive comments online about Wade's 13-year-old daughter, Zaya, who's transgender.
• In February, Badazz told Wade not to let Zaya dress "as a woman" or "cut his d--- off" because she was too young to make "big decisions" about her gender.
• "What happened to you that you think that you're somebody that can comment on somebody's life?" Tyson told Badazz in an interview in October.
• "It was great to hear him say that," Wade said on Friday of Tyson's comments.

Dwyane Wade thanked Mike Tyson for blasting the rapper Boosie Badazz over offensive comments online about Wade's 13-year-old daughter, Zaya.

Wade said in February that Zaya had come out as transgender. Wade was faced with critical comments questioning her ability to make such a determination.

On Instagram, Badazz told Wade not to allow Zaya to dress "as a woman" or "cut his d--- off" because she was too young to make such "big decisions."

A 2019 study found that transgender children come to understand their gender identity in the same way their cisgender peers do, challenging the idea that transgender kids are too young to know their gender identity.

Tyson called out Badazz's comments during an interview in October on his "Hotboxin'" podcast while saying he agreed with Badazz's concerns.

"I agree with you," Tyson told Badazz. "But check this out: Who the f--- am I to say anything? What I think don't mean a motherf---ing thing."

He added: "We think we know who we are. Who the f--- are we to make a comment about somebody's life? What happened to you that you think that you're somebody that can comment on somebody's life?"

Speaking with "Central Ave" on Friday, Wade said he was grateful for Tyson's words.

"I actually talked to Mike about that earlier in the pandemic. We had a conversation," Wade said. "I appreciated it from the standpoint of Mike is someone who has never tried to be perfect. He's someone who has learned from this journey of life. And he's one of the people that he's so smart, he's so educated and knowledgeable about life, and for him to be able to drop that nugget on the world — to me, it was great to hear him say that.

"I understand that everyone has their own path and their own journey towards accepting things. So I've never came out and said anything to anybody that feels a certain way about me or someone else in my family or my loved ones, because they don't know us, they don't know our hearts, they definitely don't know Zaya."

In February, Wade told Robin Roberts on "Good Morning America" about how Zaya approached him about being transgender.

"Zaya, early on, knew two things: She knew straight, and she knew gay," he said. "But Zaya started doing more research. She's the one who sat down with us as a family and said, 'Hey, I don't think I'm gay.'

"She went down the list and said, 'This is how I identify myself. This is my gender identity. I identity myself as a young lady. I think I'm a straight trans because I like boys.'"

Wade added: "My daughter was my first interaction when it comes to having to deal with this conversation. And hopefully I'm dealing with it the right way. Some people think I'm not. But inside our home we see the smile on our daughter's face. We see the confidence that she's able to walk around and be herself. And that's when you know you're doing it right."

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