The boxing champ got himself in hot water last week after referring to Caitlyn Jenner as Bruce when he uploaded a photo having met the Olympian-turned-reality star. He later apologized on Twitter for his mistake, but has since decided to give a verbal apology, and there is so much wrong with it, it’s difficult to know where to begin. Amir confessed he called Caitlyn, Bruce, to her face, and went on to ramble an apology where he consistently used the wrong pronoun and tripped up over his words as he tried to affirm he is not transphobic. ‘The reason I called…he…him Bruce is because I was watching him on the Olympics when he won the gold medal and he was a hero,’ he tried to rationalise as he garbled his words, forgetting Caitlyn is a her.
He continued: ‘So obviously I remember him as Bruce. Me being an Olympic champion myself, when I met him it just didn’t cross my mind. I went over and shook his…Caitlyn’s hand and called him Bruce by accident.’ Amir added that the last thing he wants is for fans to believe he is transphobic: ‘I don’t want people thinking I’m transphobic, [that I] I don’t like transgenders, I’ve got nothing against them. I don’t want people to think I’m that bad person and a person to put transgender people down. ‘We were sat together all night and we were talking about being in the Olympics. ‘He didn’t…Caitlyn didn’t really mind when I called him Bruce. I just don’t want people taking it out of context.’
After the incident, which saw Amir upload a Snapchat of Caitlyn captioned as Bruce Jenner, the Olympic boxer was on the receiving end of backlash for his mistake. One person on Twitter caught the error and tweeted: ‘Amir Khan is not funny for calling Caitlin Jenner Bruce he demonstrates what a transphobic c*** he is.’ In wake of the controversy, Amir responded in an effort to apologise for using Caitlyn’s old name, saying it was a ‘genuine mistake’. He tweeted: ‘I made a genuine mistake at the #ESPYS Calling @Caitlyn_Jenner Bruce was in regards to their sports image, as an Olympian.