Wendy Williams: ‘I bet Chaz Bono still fights like a girl’
By Nick Levine
Wendy Williams has caused offence after making transphobic comments on her US chat show yesterday (March 14).
During the show Williams chaired a group panel discussion about transgender athlete Chloie Jonsson, who has been legally recognised as a woman in the state of California since 2006 but has been denied the right to compete in the women’s division at a US gym chain’s annual games.
Endorsing the gym chain’s decision to rule out Jonsson because she was “born a male”, Williams said: “This is an unfair advantage… you can take away female parts or male parts or whatever…”
She then attempted to draw parallels with Cher’s transgender son Chaz Bono, saying: “It’s like Chaz Bono! You know Chaz is a man now, but I bet she [sic] still fights like a girl like the rest of us and she’s [sic] not as strong as a man who was born a man.”
During the discussion, one of Williams’ guests, US broadcaster Joe ‘Monk’ Pardavila, said of Jonsson: “Think about it. You look inside – she’s got all guy muscles, and the juices! You know, I’m not a doctor or anything but inside her that’s all there.”
Williams has since apologised for her comments on Twitter, writing: “Didn’t mean to offend when discussing transgender topic. I’m a long LGBT ally & @GLAAD supporter & will use this 2b better educated on the T.”
Pardavila has also apologised, telling an angry Twitter follower: “It was a stupid and uneducated remark. You have no idea how awful I feel for upsetting anyone. I’m so sorry.”