Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield said that being gay “ain’t normal” in a conversation broadcast on the U.K. version of reality show “Big Brother.”
In a conversation with a fellow housemate, Holyfield admitted that there are closeted gay boxers but said that they should not be open about it.
“That ‘aint normal,” said Holyfield, who cited his Christian beliefs.
“If you were born and your leg were turned this way — what would you do? You go to the doctor and get it fixed back right,” Holyfield said.
“Yes it is a choice,” he added. “You ‘aint gay unless you sleeping with the opposite sex.”
Holyfield was scolded by “Big Brother” authorities in a subsequent segment in which he sat in a chair in what we guessed was some kind of disciplinary room, but is actually called “The Diary Room.”
“I was just telling her my opinion,” Holyfield insisted.
Lennox Lewis, who beat Holyfield in both of their title bouts (even though the first one was called a draw, which Rudy Giuliani called a “travesty”) denied rumors that he was gay, though fellow boxer Tyson Fury recently accused him on Twitter of being a “homosexual.”