Magic Johnson Supports Gay Son, Says He & Cookie Have Known EJ Was Gay For A While

Just days after his son, Earvin “EJ” Johnson, officially came out of the closet, Magic Johnson is coming to his defense and showing his love and support for his son.

During his exclusive interview with TMZ Magic revealed quite a lot. He says he first had a talk with EJ about his sexuality when he was about 12 or 13 years old. It was at that point that EJ admitted that, ‘yes’, he was gay. However, EJ continued to struggle with revealing his true self to the world.

“We’ve known for a long time that my son EJ was gay,” Johnson stated. “We finally had to sit down and talk about it. I told him, ‘Look, I’m gonna love you regardless, just let me know. Are you, or aren’t you?’ And finally he said, ‘Yes, I am.’”

“I told him, ‘We are here to support you. We are gonna love no matter who you are, what you do. We just want you to love yourself and also make sure that you have all the information,’” said Johnson.

Johnson continued, “He really wanted to make sure I was okay. He wasn’t worried about his mom, he was worried about me…I love EJ so much. That’s my main man. I told him, ‘Nothing has changed.’”

On negative comments and opinions directed at his son Johnson expressed his disappointment.

“It bothers me that they’re discriminating against anybody who’s gay,” he stated. “I’ve been in the gay movement for a long time because of HIV and AIDS. I see young men who are black who couldn’t come out, who couldn’t tell their parents, their neighbors. So now, it’s my son.”

He added: “This is the year 2013 — we should stop discriminating against people,” Johnson argued. “And that’s what I’m gonna do with my son. But I’ll also support others. This is gonna be good for a lot of black young people.”

“It’s unfortunate that we have to go through some of this negative stuff. But it’s not gonna change me, it’s not gonna change my son and the way I love him. If people can’t understand it, that’s on them.”

Watch Johnson’s full exclusive interview below.