The Internet is abuzz about the exceedingly warm and supportive statements basketball legend Magic Johnson made to TMZ about his son Earvin “E.J.” Johnson III, who decided to tell the world that he’s gay.
Magic talked about his 20-year-old son in a video on TMZ.com, expressing his unwavering love and support for his son.
“I love E.J. so much, that’s my main man,” Magic says. “I think he really wanted to be out. But he was torn. … He just didn’t know how. He just said, ‘This is my moment. This is my time. I’m happy to share with the world who I am.’ And I said, ‘Go, E.J., go.’ ”
He adds: “This is a good moment for us as a family, and a greater moment for him. Now he’s just the bubbly kid we knew again. … I’m behind him a million percent. This is really wonderful for him.”
Magic says he first broached the subject with E.J. about six or seven years ago. Magic says he asked him, “What do you think about what your friends and [other] people are going to say once you tell them? Or have you told anybody?”
E.J. had told only his two closest friends. But this week he was photographed walking hand in hand with his boyfriend on the Sunset Strip.
“I told him, ‘Hey, we are here to support you, man. We’re going to love you no matter who you are, what you do. We just want you to love yourself,’ ” Magic, 53, said in the new video.
In response, E.J., a student at New York University and one of Magic’s three children with wife Cookie, tweeted, “In the midst of all this media attention i would like to say that i am truly blessed to have parents that love and support me.”
Lakers star Kobe Bryant praised Johnson for his statement, but said it shouldn’t be surprising.
“Of course Magic is supportive of and loves his son. Why should anyone be surprised?” Bryant said to TMZ. “What I can’t tolerate is a lack of tolerance.”
