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Mario Lopez walks back comments about parents allowing young children to pick their gender following backlash
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Mario Lopez walks back comments about parents allowing young children to pick their gender following backlash

Well, that was quick

Actor and "Access Hollywood" host Mario Lopez has issued a statement calling recent remarks he made "ignorant and insensitive," after an interview went viral on Wednesday of him saying he believes it is "dangerous" for a parent to let a young child pick their gender.

What are the details?

Last month, Lopez sat down for an interview with conservative host Candace Owens for her PragerU video series, and Owens asked for his thoughts on the Hollywood trend of allowing kids to switch genders.

"I am trying to understand it myself," Lopez replied, "and please don't lump me into that whole — I'm kind of blown away too. Look, I'm never one to tell anyone how to parent their kids obviously and ... I would say if you come from a place of love, you really can't go wrong.

"But at the same time, my God, if you're 3 years old and you're saying you're feeling a certain way or you think you're a boy or a girl or whatever the case may be, I just think it's dangerous as a parent to make this determination then, 'OK, well then you're going to be a boy' or a girl or whatever the case may be, and it's sort of alarming and, my gosh, I just think about the repercussions later on," Lopez said.

The former "Saved By The Bell" actor went on to say he thinks "parents need to allow their kids to be kids but at the same time you gotta be the adult in the situation. Pause with that and I think the formative years is when you start having those discussions and really start making those declarations."

What about the reaction?

Backlash ensued as the father-of-three's comments floated through the Twittersphere on Wednesday and into media headlines.

Within hours, Lopez issued a statement to the media saying:

The comments I made were ignorant and insensitive, and I now have a deeper understanding of how hurtful they were. I have been and always will be an ardent supporter of the LGBTQ community, and I am going to use this opportunity to better educate myself. Moving forward I will be more informed and thoughtful.

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