The former heavyweight champion is summoned to the Diary Room after calling being homosexual 'not normal' and comparing gays to handicapped people.
- Jan 6, 2014
AceShowbiz - Evander Holyfield sparked outrage following his homophobic statements on "Celebrity Big Brother". The retired professional boxer who is competing on the British reality series landed in hot water after comparing homosexuality to a handicap and insisting that it's a choice.
The 51-year-old made the controversial comments in the January 5 episode of the reality show when asked by fellow contestant Luisa Zissman about whether any boxers had come out as gay. "What would be good about it? That ain't normal," the born-again Christian responded to the question.
While Zissman realized that they should not have such a conversation, Holyfield continued expressing his opinion, "The bible lets you know, that's wrong, that's right." He added, "If you were born and your leg were turned this way, what do you do, you go to the doctor and get it fixed back right."
"All I'm trying to tell you, you know how handicapped people are born, you can't say because they were born that way," he went on saying. When Zissman told him, "You can't compare someone that's gay to someone that's handicapped, it's not a choice," he insisted, "Yes it is a choice, come on, that ain't the way nobody is made."
Holyfield was later called into the Diary Room and questioned about his anti-gay comments. The Big Brother reminded him that his comments were offensive to some people and broke the show's "rules regarding unacceptable language and behaviour."
"I forgot about the thing," Holyfield said before explaining, "I was just telling her my opinion, but it's not like I was gonna mention it to anybody else, that was just our conversation."
After warned by the Big Brother "to consider very carefully the effect expressing such views," Holyfield was put up for the first eviction along with Zissman as a pair for failing a series of tasks. Also in the same episode, Jasmine Waltz flashed her boobs in a drunken play fight with housemate Sam Faiers.
