Dwyane Wade‘s, 37, eldest son, Zaire, 17, issued a searing statement to people judging his younger brother, Zion, 12, for wearing fake nails and a crop top in a photo with his family on Thanksgiving Day. Zaire, himself, took to social media on Dec. 3 and shared a simple, but pointed message to those judging his brother. With a photo featuring the two brothers, Zaire, sitting on a throne and his brother standing beside him, the 17-year-old captioned the post with “We didn’t ask for y’all opinion.” The post also featured the location “Family First,” showing that Zaire is not backing down and is continuing to defend his brother.
Thankfully, Zion has a lot of support beyond his family, as well. Basketball player Udonis Haslem, 39, commented on Zaire’s post, writing, “And they shut don’t matter nephew,” to which Zaire replied with “Yessir.” Dwyane’s wife, Gabrielle Union, 47, also chimed in by saying “Facts” and adding slew of heart emojis. More fans offered their priase in with comments, ranging from “Keep all unsolicited opinions,” to “Dopeness at its finest.” Doubling down on his short, but to the point statement, Zaire also shared to his story his dad’s own statement, where the father-of-four defended his 12-year-old son for expressing himself freely.
The entire online debacle began when, as previously mentioned, Dwyane shared a Thanksgiving day photo, featuring Zion, Gabrielle and his one-year-old daughter with the Bring It On star, Kaavia. Haters commented with a lot of hateful vitriol in the comments of the Instagram post, leaving Dwyane to address those comments with a number of tweets in support of his son. “I’ve seen some post-thanksgiving hate on social about my family photo. Stupidity is apart [sic] of this world we live in—so i get it. But here’s the thing—I’ve been chosen to lead my family not y’all. So we will continue to be us and support each other with pride, love & a smile!” his Nov. 30 tweet read. But there was more where that came from.
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The Miami Heat player directly responded to one kind comment from a follower, praising him for “embracing” his son’s “individuality.” Dwyane responded in kind, saying, “As a parent my only goal is that my kids feel that i see them, love them and support them.” It’s wonderful to see Zion’s family sharing nothing but love and support for him as he finds ways to express himself and feel comfortable in his own skin.