During a recent interview with Shannon Sharpe on his Club Shay Shay podcast, comedian and actor Marlon Wayans registered his displeasure with Elon Musk over the cold shoulder treatment the South African-born billionaire was giving to his transgender daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson.
Wayans, 52, similarly has a transgender son named Kai, and he disclosed his oldest son had come out as such in 2023. Wayans has also been very supportive of his son’s transition and has openly expressed his unconditional love for him. But that isn’t the case for Musk as the 53-year-old Tesla boss previously claimed his transgender daughter was “dead.”
Wayans in the interview took issue with Musk’s treatment of his transgender daughter. “I have a Tesla that I’m about to drive over a cliff,” the Scary Movie actor jokingly said, per Entertainment Weekly.
RELATED STORIES
“I don’t like what he be saying about his trans child, that made me mad. You don’t treat them babies like that. You don’t disown your babies…Love your child!”
Elsewhere in the interview, Wayans touched on initially reacting to Kai’s transition with resistance. But he reflected on eventually growing to accept his son’s decision, though he stated that may not be the case for others.
“I’m not proud of the things that I went through, but I’m proud that I got there in a week,” he said. “I’m sad to say some parents and some family members, it’ll take them a lifetime. And they’ll never get to that magical place that I’m at.”
“Still my child, man,” Wayans said about his son. “That’s my baby.” Wayans also told Sharpe that his son’s transition process enlightened him about the real meaning of “unconditional love.”
“Kai broke me,” the 52-year-old revealed. “Kai broke my ego. Kai broke the thing where I was like, ‘You got to be this and you got to be that.’ Hey man, I ain’t got to be nothing.”
“Whatever y’all want, I just got to be a father, and I got to love you and I hope I’m an example and I hope you feel loved,” he continued. “I want you to be happy.”
Wayans calling out Musk comes after the billionaire’s transgender daughter accused him of being an absentee father in her first interview, Face2Face Africa reported in July. Wilson told NBC News that the 53-year-old was cruel to her during her childhood because of her queerness and feminine traits.
Wilson, 20, spoke with the news outlet to address claims Musk made about her sexuality and transition during an interview with psychologist and conservative commentator Jordan Peterson. The interview was streamed on X, and Musk addressed his daughter by her birthname and claimed she was “dead, killed by the woke mind virus.” He also claimed he was tricked into signing documents that gave the go-ahead for his daughter to undergo transgender-related medical treatment.
Musk in a post on X also said his daughter “was born gay and slightly autistic, two attributes that contribute to gender dysphoria.” “I knew that from when [she] was about 4 years old and [she] would pick out clothes for me to wear like a jacket and tell me it was ‘fabulous!, as well as [her] love of musicals & theatre,” he added. “But [she] was not a girl.”
However, Wilson denied her estranged father’s claims and said no one tricked him into signing the documents – though he was initially hesitant. She said her father was aware of his actions when he consented to her treatment. Parents are required to give the go-ahead for their children to undergo such treatments.
READ ALSO: ‘You have been cruel to me’ – Algerian boxer Imane Khelif calls out Elon Musk
