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Drake Bell, Timbaland tweet transphobic remarks at Caitlyn Jenner

Celebs are weighing in from all corners on Jenner's historic day.

 

Ramon Ramirez

IRL

Posted on Jun 1, 2015   Updated on May 28, 2021, 5:02 pm CDT

Olympic legend and reality television star Caitlyn Jenner attacked the national conversation about transgender issues on Monday with a Vanity Fair photoshoot. The day has since proved itself the perfect storm for revealing gaffes—from naive blunders to aggressive prejudice

To that end, celebrities like Nickelodeon star Drake Bell and hip-hop producer Timbaland made splashes late Monday with controversial, hate-stirring social media updates. Both played on the same notes of forced logic: Jenner was born a man, and so she should be addressed as one.

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Drake Bell/Twitter

As someone pointed out to Timbaland in the comments, there’s irony in Timbaland refusing to acknowledge Jenner’s name change given that he was born “Timothy Zachery Mosley” and not “Timbaland.”  

For Bell’s part, he tried to backtrack his statement with a follow-up tweet: “I’m not dissing him! I just don’t want to forget his legacy! He is the greatest athlete of all time! Chill out!” Both have since been deleted.

Elsewhere, public reaction from celebrities with vast numbers of followers has been overwhelmingly positive.

Photo via manarianz5/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0) | Remix by Fernando Alfonso III

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*First Published: Jun 1, 2015, 9:35 pm CDT