Perez Hilton bans five-year-old son from dance class so he ‘doesn’t turn out gay’
The celebrity blogger says he'd prefer his son to be straight.
Perez Hilton has admitted he won’t let his young son attend dance classes in case he ‘turns out gay’.
The celebrity blogger, who is openly gay, has been slammed online after he revealed in a podcast last week that he wouldn’t let his five-year-old son Mario learn to dance in case it ‘influenced’ the child’s sexuality, Entertainment Tonight reports.
Hilton has since attempted to defend his comments in a YouTube video, stating he’d prefer his son to grow up straight because it’s “easier”.
“I’m not going to put a number on it, but I would say a good amount – maybe like 50% or more – of little boys who take dance class end up being gay”, Hilton said.
“I don’t think it’s a homophobic thing to say. Just like I don’t think it’s a homophobic thing to say that a disproportionate amount of male singers/actors/dancers on Broadway are gay. There are more gay men drawn to that profession.
“That’s not homophobic, that’s just a fact.”
The 40-year-old Celebrity Big Brother star continued: “Ultimately, every decision I make for my son is what I think is best for his future. I don’t want to do anything that could potentially hurt him.”
“And if he really wanted to take dance class – which he hasn’t expressed that – if he begged and pleaded and I saw that would make him truly happy, I would do that.”
Hilton also insisted he isn’t ashamed of being gay, but being homosexual or transgender in the US was “a harder road to travel on.”
“We’re still discriminated against, and I don’t want my son or daughters to have a harder path in life”, he said.
As online backlash against his comments grew on Monday, Hilton appareaed to concede that learning to dance does not ‘make’ children gay.
“Maybe there are so many gay dancers because they were already gay going into dance class and dance just spoke to them,’ he conceded.
Watch the video below: