Magic Johnson dragged over birthday message to his gay son E. J.

The iconic basketball player has shown nothing but support for his son after he publicly came out as gay in 2013. E.J is now considered a fashion icon and one of the leading voices in the LGBTQ+ community for his unique way of fighting society’s standards about gender and sexuality.

E.J Johnson recently celebrated his 26th birthday, and his father, former NBA star Magic Johnson, took to social media to congratulate his son as any other proud father would. The man shared two beautiful photos on Instagram with E.J, one from his childhood and the other from a recent event alongside his wife Cookie.

Magic, who has stated in several opportunities how proud he is of all his children, expressed his love for E.J and the movement he’s leading thanks to his fashion choices and personality, through a lovely message in his caption that says:

“Happy birthday to my amazing son @ejjohnson_ who is helping change the world. I am so proud of the person you have become. Continue to be your best self and walk in authenticity, passion, and ambition. I love you!”

While many fans of the Johnson family expressed their joy and well wishes for E.J, others found the fact that Magic supports his son to be offensive and disrespectful. Some even called E.J a girl, and blamed Magic for allowing his son to dress in “women’s clothes.”

Read some of the rude comments below:

“codytheclampgod: No offense but do you call him your son or daughter?”

“djlakin_: How is he being himself and authentic? That boy a whole female out here.”

“stewardteresa: I’m sorry, change the world. What world is that? Making a mockery of God.”

“_.tripp.__: I have no room to judge but how can a man let his son turn into this? If they actually believed in God and Jesus as they publicize, then they would’ve set their son on the right path.”

But for every hating comment, thousands were supporting Magic for being such a great father and being there for his son despite his sexual orientation or the way he chooses to dress.

And while Magic has shown nothing but unconditional support for E.J since he became a public figure, the boy recently revealed that his coming out to Magic wasn’t as smooth as people might think. The fashionista visited Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook Watch’s show “Red Table Talk” with his mother Cookie, and they discussed gender, sexuality and his love life.

Cookie revealed that she knew her son was gay since he was around three-years-old because he always loved to play with her clothes and even when he was enrolled on baseball lessons, little E.J was more aware of the flowers adorning the field than the game. She also shared how she faced her son about his preference after a family trip to Hawaii.

In the trip, she said, Cookie observed E.J and one of his friends, who was also gay, were ogling men in bathing suits instead of women. So, when she asked her son about it, E.J admitted he was gay, and she assured him she would be there for him no matter what.

However, she warned a young E.J to keep his sexuality a secret from his father. But as everything comes to light sooner than later, when the time came for them to have “the talk” with Magic, things went down south.

“We had the talk with Dad, and that was a little tough,” Cookie revealed. “My husband is the kind of person like he reacts quickly. Everything that came to the top of his head, he just let it out.” The baller allegedly said to her “This is not what I wanted for my son. And do you realize what you’re saying because the world is not going to like that and do you want to live this life?”

The 59-years-old had to calm down her husband by making him see how tough he was being, which prompted Magic to visit E.J on his room the next day, and he recalled what went down saying “He was like, “We’re going to get through this, and I just need time.” And we both started crying a little bit.”

On a visit Magic did to “The Ellen De Generes Show” last year, the famous host asked Magic what he would say to parents who have children in the LGBTQ+ community, to which he answered:

“Well, I think is all about you not trying to decide what your daughter or son should be, or what you want them to become. Is all about loving them, no matter who they are, what they decide to do. When my son came out, I was so happy for him and happy for us as parents, and we love him.”

And concluded:

“You got to support your child because there are many people trying to discriminate against them, so they need you to support them. Because if you don’t support them, who’s going to support them and love them?”